


BMFM : Slime Mold Song and Dance Pt 1

by The_Flyattractor



Series: Biker Mice from Mars Hard Luck Trilogy [2]
Category: Biker Mice From Mars
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 53,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29248938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Flyattractor/pseuds/The_Flyattractor
Summary: LImburger is back and up to some new dirty tricks. Relationships build and strain with a new mouse in town, and some old foes return but not as you think.
Series: Biker Mice from Mars Hard Luck Trilogy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137035





	1. Chapter 1

Biker Mice from Mars   
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
The Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 1

“Ahh Chicago.” Limburger sighed as he smiled to himself. He rolled down the rear passenger window to his deep purple stretch limousine and took in the view as they drove down a street on the eastern outskirts of the city. It was block after block of For Sale Signs. Deserted and Dilapidated Buildings. Many of them little more than piles of rubble. Limburger’s smile grew a little as he basks in his memories of the days when he could do his Plutarkian Job without Martian Interference.  
Up ahead on the other side of the street was the still open and operating Brentwood Chemical Factory. It was just about dawn as the sun started to turn the eastern horizon red. The Factory was brightly lit up and it was filling the sky with fumes and smells. It was also putting a sickly multicolored coating on the nearby waters of the Great Lake Michigan.   
The Smell of the Chemical Fumes plus the surrounding destruction, mixed with a heavy humidity being brought on by the Late Spring Weather and the smell of the polluted water being carried in on the breeze…why, it reminded him of his home planet Plutark.   
He took another deep breath and sighed. It all reminded him of happier times. Times before a certain troublesome trio had brought his life to its current state of being a big stinking mess. But if he was lucky (ha ha) and all his careful planning and scheming paid off. All of that would change soon.   
“Pull over and park the limo you moronic mutant.” Limburger spat at his chauffer Fred the Masochist Mutant. Fred put a big smile on his warped face, he tipped his hat at Limburger and replied. “Sure, thing boss!” he then gave a maniacal giggle, slammed on the powerful brakes, spun the limo around and bounced it off the curb. In the process Fred bounced all over the front seat, enjoying every second of it. He never wore his seat belt.  
Limburger pulled himself up off the limo floor and kicked open the door and pulled himself out. Growling and spitting and vowing to reconsider paying one of the Goons to be his chauffeur, he straightened his suit and mask. Being Fiscally Conservative (aka Cheap) had its benefits but being driven around by that suicidal slug just to save a counterfeit dollar was starting to wear thin.   
He stepped up onto the sidewalk and looked at his wristwatch. A sinister smile spread across his fat face. Right on time the sound of a group of powerful engines made the street rumble.   
A dozen of Limburger’s Goons in their heavily armed racers tore across the street and smashed thru the Chemical Plants Heavy Fenced Driveway. The Goons instantly started blasting away at everything in sight! Explosions rocked the Plant! Scared and Confused Workers did everything they could to escape both the attackers and the danger of the chemicals escaping and causing untold amounts of damage!   
Another heavy rumble filled the air. Greasepit in a large Plutarkian Sucking Machine chugged in thru the Plant’s smashed gates! “Ok Yous Goons! Get doze Workers outta da way den start breaking open the Chemical Vats! “He yelled out via the Machines built-in loudspeakers. “We gots some Juice to suck up!” He said with a stupid giggle.   
The Goons did as they were told. Half kept to their vehicles and kept shooting up the place with their laser guns and missiles, while the other half ran up with hammers, and crowbars and started breaking pipes and vats open! Noxious gasses and fluids started to pour out all over the place!   
Greasepit snarled and thru switches inside the Machines Cab. Large Hoses and tubes sprung out from the Machine and started to vacuum up all the chemicals! Greasepit drove the Machine up to a large chemical vat and used the large front sucker attachment to chew thru the vat and started to pull the dangerous substances into the machine’s large storage container.   
The damage the Goons had done was adding to the spilling chemicals. Large pools of noxious substances on the ground. Side vacuum tubes extended from the machine and drew those in too, but vapors were starting to build up. The Goons stopped to put on gas masks and continued to wreck the plant, not caring how dangerous their actions were.   
Limburger couldn’t help but chuckle to himself as he watched the Poisonous Cloud grow bigger and bigger. Soon a morning breeze would carry it over Chicago. It would cause havoc in the city. Also, a fair bit of destruction. How horrible that would be Limburger chuckled at the evil thought.   
Sadly, He knew that this was a dream that was most likely going to go up in Smoke. He looked down at his watch again. It was about time for another Very Predictable Occurrence to happen.   
Right on time, the area Rocked to a couple of new sounds. The sound of 3 Very Powerful engines and Very Loud Heavy Metal Music shook the whole area. A Look of Pure Hate crossed Limburger’s Masked Face. “Curse those Courageous Crumb Chasers.” He growled.   
Rocking and Racing down the street the 3 Biker Mice, Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie singing along with the metal song, albeit changing the words and doing it very off-key, they were still more than capable of taking in the situation. “Seal up those Helmets Bros, that is one Fatal Fume in the air!” Throttle said while he turned on his helmet's space mode. Modo and Vinnie did the same.   
“Whoa, that cloud is one pungent perfume, almost as Lethal as a Plutarkian Backblast!” Vinnie laughed at his own crude joke. “Nothing is as bad as that!” Modo added while making a face. “Time to Can the Comedy you Cornballs, we gotta do something to stop that cloud before it flows into Shy Town!” Throttle said interrupting them.   
“I say the first step would be to start by Pounding Greasepit and the Goons into the Ground!” Growled Modo, his eye growing red as he revved himself up for battle. “Ha, ha sounds like Standard Operating Procedure to me. “Vinnie laughed. “You know it, Thunder and Sunder #7!” Throttle agreed while calling out the battle play.   
Vinnie let out a Berserker Battle Cry and gunned his bike’s engine!   
“Battle for Breakfast, Best Way to Start the Day!” He laughed! “I think I will stick to Eggs and Bacon.” Modo smirked and revved up Lil’ Hoss’s engines too. “I would prefer to sleep till noon but let’s get this over with and see if we can still make brunch.” Joked Throttle and sped up to join his Bro’s!  
The Goons and Greasepit suddenly stopped in their destruction. Even over the racket, they were making there was no mistaking the sound of what was coming. “Aw crud.” Greasepit grumbled. He didn’t get paid enough to deal with this. Good thing he had forgotten that he never gets paid anyway. “Get Ready You Goons, Its Time to earn some Overtime!” He yelled out over the loudspeakers! The Goons dropped their attack on the Plant and ran back to their battle buggies.   
Only about 7 of the Goons made it. 5 of the buggies Exploded from the missiles and grenades thrown at them from the Biker’s Bikes! The Goons on foot yelled and ran for whatever cover they could find!   
“Hey Bros!” Vinnie Yelled. “Who ordered the Scrambled Battle Buggies?” He joked. “I prefer mine Over Easy!” Modo added then shot a tow line from Lil Hoss’s rear launcher which snagged on one of the buggies rollbars! Modo gunned his rockets and took off, pulling the buggy off its wheels, hitting another, and flipping them over onto their tops! The 2 Goons jumping out and running before they exploded!  
Throttle roared past a group of Goons driving to dive face-first into the dirt, falling for Throttle’s feint. He was heading directly for Greasepit in the Sucker Machine. “I am in the mood for the Full Greasy Spoon Special!” He yelled and hit the Big Machine with a laser gun barrage.   
“Orff” yelped Greasepit as his big mishappen head bounced off the Sucker Machines Clear Canopy. “I’ll get you ya miserable mousey!” He snorted and he opened fire with the Machines Big Laser Cannons! Pointed almost straight down, the ground around the machine erupted in explosions of dirt and flames! Throttle accelerated and sped around the machine in an ever-faster circle!  
“Get me if you can Grease Man!’ Throttle yelled out, teasing Greasepit. “Oh, I will get you but good Mousey!” Greasepit yelled back and sped up both his laser attack and the machine's speed. The area around the Leader of the Biker Mice and the Plutarkian Machine disappeared in a cloud of spinning dust and chemicals!  
“Now this is a breakfast!’ Modo said as he and Vinnie finished up the Goons. All the buggies were now smoking heaps of junk and the last of the Goons were piled up in a garbage dumpster. Yeah, a nice big Stack of Goon Flapjacks!” Vinnie laughed as he spun his motorcycle around, hitting the dumpster with his rear wheel, sending the dumpster rolling out of the Chemical Plant driveway. They pulled up next to each other and high fived then looked over to see how Throttle was doing dealing with Greasepit. They had to laugh.   
Greasepit was firing away with his laser cannons as fast as he could. A mean smile crossed his big head and he slammed on the brakes and spun the machine in the other direction, hoping to hit the biker with a sneaky move, which he had to guess cause he had no idea where he was in all that dust and gas.   
A Big Blast hit the ground, and a huge Fireball ignited a pocket of gas! The Big Machine rocked and out of the Fireball flew the Black Motorcycle. It had no rider!   
“Yahoo!” Greasepit Cheered! “I did it, I vaporized that Vermin!” He stopped firing the laser cannons and did a little victory dance. He stopped when he heard a tapping noise. He looked up confusedly. Kneeling next to the machine's canopy Throttle smiled and waved back at him with one hand and raised his glowing hand with the Nuke knuckles up in the air.   
“Oh No.” Groaned Greasepit. BAM! The Sucker Machine quaked as Throttle slammed his glowing fist into it. BAM went Greasepit’s head as it hit the top of the Canopy! Grease Splattered all over the place! BAM went the Fist! BAM went Greasepit’s Head! This happened a few more times until Greasepit’s big hand hit the canopy release switch. The Canopy pulled back into the machine. Greasepit landed in the driver’s seat. Little birdies and stars swirling around his sore head.   
Throttle reached and looked down at Greasepit. “Bye.” He smiled and pushed the seat’s ejector button. “Gulp, bye-bye.” Greasepit sighed and waved. WHOOSH went the seats rockets as it and Greasepit when Flying up, thru the gas cloud and out somewhere over Lake Michigan. “WahHahooey!’ yelled Greasepit as he splashed down!  
“Gee do you think we will get in trouble for causing an oil spill in the lake?” Vinnie asked laughing. “Nah. Nobody will notice that little Drip.” Modo told him.   
Ignoring his bro’s bad humor, Throttle jumped into the Sucker Machines Cockpit, He slipped on the grease and landed on his tail. Hoping Vinnie and Modo didn’t see his landing, he reached up and grabbed the controls. He pushed all the machines' big vacuums to full power!  
“What is he doing?” Vinnie asked. “What he always does, saving the day.” Modo said proudly. Sure enough, Throttle made the machine suck up all the escaped and spilled fluid and fumes. He activated the machine's jets and rose to get the cloud above the plant too. Never leave a job unfinished as Modo’s Grey Furred Momma would say, Throttle thought to himself.  
Out on the street, Limburger watched the dumpster full of moaning Goons roll by. He also watched Greasepit land in the lake. “Oh well, a very predictable outcome, but fortunately not an Unplanned for outcome.” He said to himself. “Although one must not be amiss to take whatever opportunities one is afforded either.” He finished with a nasty smile and took a small remote from a pocket. He pushed a button and the trunk of the limo popped open and up came an exceptionally large and very full Missile Launcher. He laughed Malevolently.   
Back in the Chemical Plant’s Work Yard, Throttle finished sucking up the last of the chemical cloud. He then landed the big machine and pushed a few more buttons. The large container on the back of the machine popped off and crashed to the ground. “There, all cleaned up and safely wrapped up for the Plant Emergency Crews to take care of.” Throttle said while doing making a macho stance on top of the Big Machine’s Driver’s Cab.   
Vinnie and Modo and Throttle’s bike pulled up to look up at him. Vinnie crossed his arms and looked up at him. “Man, I am the one that should be doing the heroic stances, I recall it being put into my contract.” Vinnie mock grumbled.   
“Always check the fine print.” Throttle smirked at him. Modo laughed at that. He then suddenly stopped, with a worried look on his face. “Uh, guys.” He said. “I demand a renegotiation.” Vinnie snapped back with a smile. “Uh, guys.” Modo said. “Hey, I can’t help it if I am just a better example of the True Heroic Taker of the Moment.” Throttle said to push Vinnie's buttons. Vinnie shook his head back and forth while he tried to think up a comeback to that. Throttle smiled down at him.   
“GUYS!!” Modo yelled. They both looked at him. “Am I the only one that heard the launch of what sounded like about a dozen missiles and that they seem to be heading this way?!” Throttle and Vinnie looked at each other, then at Modo who had That Look on his Face, then all 3 looked up. Yep, there were about 12 missiles climbing high into the sky and were just hitting their apogee where they turned to shoot towards the ground. “AAAAHHH!” All three of them yelled. Somehow an evil laugh could be heard as well coming from somewhere nearby.   
“What do we do, what do we do?!” Stammered Modo. Vinnie looked like he couldn’t decide to be scared crapless or ecstatic. They both looked at Throttle. He looked quickly down at them and up at the missiles a few times. “Uh, um, Shoot them DOWN!” Throttle yelled. Modo, Vinnie, turned their bikes skyward and opened fire with all they had. Throttle’s bike joined in as well. Throttle grabbed the Sucker Machine’s controls and he aimed its large cannons upward and fired too! That is when they learned that the Missiles were shielded.   
“This isn’t working.” Vinnie said calmly and with a smile. Modo just grunted and opened fire with his arm cannon too. Thinking as fast as he could Throttle activated the Suckers Jet Engines and aimed it straight up. He then jumped down onto his bike. “RUN!” He yelled! They did. The Sucker shot up into the sky straight toward the down coming missiles. They impacted just about a hundred feet above them.   
The Sky filled with a Massive Explosion! The Fireball lit up the Chicago area like 2 sunrises! The Sound boom rattled windows all over Chicago! The Fireball expanded upwards and downwards! The Battleground was engulfed in the Flames! Out of it shot 3 shapes! The Mice came to a screeching and smoking halt across the street from the plant.   
“Ow, ow, ow,ouch!” cried Modo and Vinnie as they both reached back and grabbed the flaming tips of their tails and started blowing them out. Throttle looked back at his tail, which had a nice coating of grease on it, which spared him from this.   
“Ahh, why does this never happen to you!” Vinnie whined as he continued to blow on his smoking tail. “Blessed are the Virtuous Vin-man, Blessed!” Throttle said with a smile. Vinnie kept blowing and tried really hard to come up with a good comeback. Modo just rolled his eye and sucked on his own burnt tail. Throttle laughed out loud.   
Racing away in his limo, Limburger once more cursed his continuing fate of Failure! “Faster you little drip, or I swear I will replace your bed of nails with the softest mattress I can find!” He yelled at Fred. Fred looked shocked at this and did his best to not to crash the limo. He looked in the rearview mirror, and a smile crossed his little face. Looks like it wasn’t his call to make. Limburger noticed this and then spotted the 3 headlights racing up behind them. “Oh dear.” He said.   
He barely managed to turn on the limo’s force field before the lasers bounced off them. “Ah Man, he put a field on that thing too!?” Vinnie snapped! He hated to see a good sneak attack not work. “So how do we handle this one?” Modo asked hoping for something good. “Hockey Puck Chuck 2.” Throttle Said with a slow smile. Modo got his wish. Vinnie laughed out loud and shot forward to take his part in the play.   
“Faster, you stupid snot-ball, faster!” Limburger yelled as the Mice easily caught up and took positions around the speeding limo. A zapping could be heard coming from the force field next to the window he was sitting next too. He looked up to see Modo tapping against the energy field with his cyborg arm’s fingers, energy sparking against them when he tapped. He was giving the Plutarkian his best Evil Smile! His one eye glowing a bright red really helped. Limburger stared back at him. Modo continued to smile back at him. This back and forth continued for a few seconds. Modo made a “roll down the window” hand motion. Limburger rolled down the window. Modo looked at him and said. “Hi!”. “Um, Hello?” Limburger said weakly. “I’m the Distraction.” Modo said with his best Evil Smile of them all! It took a full second for this to sink in.   
Limburger spun around and looked forward out the windshield. About a block ahead of them, Vinnie was waving back, just as he fired a couple of land shark torpedoes at the limo. They dug into the street and their fins could be seen cutting their way towards the limo! He could hear Vinnie’s maniacal laughter over them. The Sharks popped up thru the street and bit into the limo’s tires (which were not in the force field because they still needed to be in contact with the road to move the limo). The Limos Slammed to a complete stop, causing both Fred and Limburger to slam to a complete stop! The Rear of the limo bounced up, giving Throttle his opportunity. His Nuke Knucks glowing at full power, he hit the rear force field as hard as he could.   
WHAM! The Limo shot up in the air! It bounced off a broken building, its force field the only thing keeping it and its occupants in one piece! The limo shot off to splash land a few miles offshore and into Lake Michigan. Limburger’s cry of NOOOOOO could be heard all the way until the splash. “TOTALLY CHUCKED!” All three of the Mice cheered!   
The Bro’s turned and headed for Chicago. “So, think we will get in trouble for dumping That in the lake?” Vinnie asked. “I won’t tell if you won’t,” Modo said. “You want to go dip your tail in the lake Vin-man?” Throttle said with a chuckle. “Not Funny Dude!” He barked at him. Throttle chuckled which just annoyed Vinnie even more.   
“Well, it’s that time again Bros.,” Modo said with a tired sigh. “Time for what?” Vinnie asked, his train of thought still trying to come up with a good comeback for Throttle. Throttle took in a deep breath when it broke to him. “You know, Your EXCUSES for Charley.” Modo sighed again. “Oh Crap!” Vinnie snapped. He just remembered too. “Come on guys, this has been going on for nearly 3 weeks,” Modo said with a hint of impatience and sadness in his voice. “That is what makes it so hard!” Vinnie whined! “I have already used up all the best ones!” Modo had to agree with that. The excuses from the last few days had been pretty lame.   
“I am going to go with I have to go help Vinnie soak his poor little burned tail.” Throttle said barely holding his laughter in. He was enjoying this. “Will you lay off it!?” Vinnie snapped. “Fine, I will just tell her you are busy, again,” Modo said and turned off on a side street and took off. “Do you think we are hurting his feelings? “Vinnie asked with what appeared to be actual sensitivity. Throttle noticed this and thought that he should do something to encourage it, but he couldn’t help himself. “Gee, I didn’t think you getting your tail burned would open up your sensitive side like this.” He smirked. Vinnie bit into his lip. He really needed to work on his comebacks. Throttle his smiling wavered a little as some guilt built up in him. He hated to upset Modo, but both he and Vinnie had reasons for making excuses. Well one reason really, and that reason was still inhabiting Modo’s destination. The Last Chance Garage.   
As the trio broke up into two groups. Vinnie and Throttle gave the lone Modo a backward glance as they watched him speed away. Neither of them noticing the odd activity beneath their wheels. The manhole covers behind them all rattling and bouncing slightly as something seemed to be pushing them from underneath. Nor did they notice the small traces of a nasty green ooze bubbling up onto the street where it sizzled and smoked on the street.   
Out on the lake, just a few feet under the water, Limburger was enjoying a rare moment of being thankful of his Plutarkian Ancestry. In other words, he was happy he was a fish. Fred was also grateful that Dr. Karbunkle had given him a set of gills to. It hurt to breathe thru them. It was great! Limburger smiled sinisterly. Yes, his plan was coming along just swimmingly! “To My New Limburger Tower My Dear Despicable Degenerate,” Limburger said to Fred, who activated the Limo’s new submarine features. Off they took. Limburger was in such a good mood; he was almost tempted to stop and pick up that Good for Nothing Greasepit but thought better of it. It would be hard enough to dry the Limo out without having to deal with grease stains as well.  
“Distraction, indeed. I will teach those fools what a real distraction is.” Limburger laughed to himself as they moved silently under the dark waters. 

To Be Continued.


	2. Biker Mice from Mars: Slime Mold Dance pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 in the Story. The Plot Thickens and Charley and Hard Luck Team up to Save the Day?

Biker Mice from Mars  
The Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 2  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Chapter 2

The Sun was out and shining over the Chicago Skyline. The sky was kind of hazy due to the heavy haze of the humidity blanketing the city. It was going to be a warm and moist early late spring day. It was a little while after the mornings early battle and Modo was just pulling up to His second home on earth. The Last Chance Garage.   
Modo pulled up to the alley entrance behind the garage and dismounted off his cycle, Lil Hoss. Modo took off his helmet and put it on Lil Hoss’s rear rack and took off some grocery sacks off the back. “Wait here little darlin, I will be back in a bit.” He said to his cycle. Lil Hoss gave a few cheery computerized beeps and blips and settled down to wait for her owner.   
“Hey Charley, Hard Luck, I got Breakfast!” Modo yelled as he pushed open the backdoor and stomped into the garage. No Answer. “Hello anybody here?” He yelled out again. Still no answer. “Uh, Hello?” He called out again. The Open sign was up on the front of the garage. There really should be someone here. His big ears twitched as he caught a noise. He moved over towards it.   
The Shop was full of vehicles today. Cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Charley had a lot of business. She could really use the money after the damage the garage took during the battle with the Slaughtarkians a few weeks ago. That and she had been nursing his Little Foster Brother back to health too.   
Hard Luck. The Blue Furred Martian. He had literally just dropped out of the sky one night. He had helped them save the city, and the entire world from getting destroyed. Granted He had gotten pretty beat up and was pretty much an invalid for a week or so on a couch in the back of the garage. Yeah, good times. Now, where was He? Oh yeah, he heard a noise and was INVESTIGATING!  
He moved over to a pickup truck with its hood up. Laying on the open motor half in and half out was Charley. She was quietly snoring and holding a wrench in her hand. She looked so cute there he almost hated to wake her, and if she weren’t’ about to drool on the truck’s battery, he wouldn’t have.   
Easily picking her up he moved her to a chair next to the table in the corner of the garage. She slowly woke up as he sat her down. “Oh, Hard Luck, you got grape soda in the transmission, again.” She said groggily, she was still half-a-sleep. Modo’s eye popped wide at that one. He reached down and shook her awake. “Oh, where am I, Modo!” She gasped as she woke up. Well Woke Up may be too strong of a word.  
“Hi Charly Ma’am, I brought you some bagels and a Cappuccino!” Modo said with a big smile. She could probably use an expresso he thought to himself. Charley didn’t look so good. Her hair was kind of unkept, and her eyes were bloodshot, and she had bags under them too. Maybe a couple of expressos.   
Charley took a breath. “Is that Coffee?” She asked. Modo barely nodded before it was snatched out of his hand and she guzzled half it down. She leaned back and let the warm coffee flow thru her and give her that much needed boost. “Oh, I needed that.” She said. “Modo, we have to talk about your brother.” She said with a look on her face that didn’t have any patience for disagreement.   
Modo just sighed. “What has he done now?” He asked in that way only an older brother can. Charley leaned back on her chair. She looked tired again. “He hasn’t done anything wrong, as such, well other than making some messes, and breaking some stuff.” Charley said while tiredly rubbing her neck. She then downed the rest of the coffee in one long drink. Modo handed her the other cup.   
Modo chuckled at this. He was very aware of his Little Foster Brothers near legendary clumsiness. Charley gave him a look that brought him back to the conversation. “He has been better for over a week now, so when is he going to move into the Hideout with you guys?” She asked with an edge of frustration.   
“Yeesh, I am not so sure about that right now, I mean it is just that…” Modo kind of stumbled thru with a very off-putting look on his face. “And on that note, what are Vinnie and Throttle’s stupid excuses for not coming by today?” She asked with a look on her face that Modo tried not to look directly at. Modo Sighed. “Oh, the usual lame ones of late.” In the 3 weeks since Hard Luck had been dropped in her lap, she had hardly seen either of them during that time. Modo had stopped by every day to help and visit Hard Luck.  
“It doesn’t have anything to do with the big explosion this morning does it?” She asked. “It knocked me all the way out of bed, and I had just fallen asleep.” She groaned tiredly. She looked totally exhausted. She is exhausted. Modo could tell that just by looking at her.   
“Ever since Limburger and His Goons showed up a week ago, he has been up to something almost every day. We have been running from dusk to dawn to keep track of him, and He hasn’t even rebuilt his tower yet.” Modo told her. “He hasn’t been up to anything big just lots of random little stuff. We haven’t been able to figure it out so far.” He finished. 

“Getting back to the problem at hand, have you ever heard of PTSD Modo?” Charley asked him. “Is it a song by Aretha Franklin?” Modo replied jokingly. “I am being serious Modo!” Charley snapped at him. “Sorry Charley.” Modo apologized. “It means Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, its something soldiers and people who have lived thru horrible experiences suffer from, here on earth it used to be called Shell Shock.” Charley explained to him. “Hard Luck seems to have it and Bad!” She sighed settling back in her chair.   
Modo thought about this but didn’t say anything. “Did Hard Luck fight in the War with the Plutarkians on Mars?” She asked. “To be honest Charley, I don’t know. He disappeared a few years before the real fighting began.” Modo said, his thoughts drifting off into his memories. “Until he showed up here, I hadn’t seen him in something like 10 years or more. Charley reached out and took his big left paw in her hand. “I don’t mean to dig up any bad memories Modo, but I felt this was something you needed to know. “  
Modo squeezed her hand back and gave her a sad smile. “Everybody on Mars lived thru some pretty bad times during and after the War, so I guess we can all claim to be a part of the crowd.” He said to her while looking at his metal arm. “So, what makes you think its this PTSD thing bothering him?” Modo asked her. “Hard Luck has always been kind of the twitchy type.” He said trying to lighten the mood a little.   
Charley smiled up at him. “It’s a lot of things I have noticed over the last few weeks.” She said. “He gets odd mood swings, and his attention just drifts away sometimes.” She took another drink of coffee. “Nights are the worst. He suffers from real bad nightmares; He has woken me up almost every night he has been here screaming and having panic attacks.” Modo’s Eye opened wide at this. “Wow, Really?” He gasped.   
“Yes, and he won’t tell me what they are about, he changes the subject or just stops talking.” Charley sighed. Modo had a good idea why she looked so worn out. Having this happen every night could do that to a person. He had seen it during the war a lot himself. “And there is other odd behavior too.” She continued to say. “The nightmares are on the nights He does sleep. which I think he does a lot to avoid.” She said as she wrapped her hands around the warm coffee cup. “She said while looking down. “I hear him moving around the garage at night and talking to himself.” She said with a slight shiver.   
Modo gave her a look. “Wow, really?” Modo said with an odd look on his face. “Yes, and it freaks me out!” Charley snapped! “What is weird is I could swear I hear somebody talking back to him, and no I don’t mean Dently!” She gasped. Her head dropped into her hands and started rubbing her eyes. Modo reached down and put his paw on her shoulder to give what support he could. “I don’t know, maybe I am just really tired and imagining it all.” She sighed.   
“I think you need a nap.” Modo told her. Charley nodded. Modo took her hand and helped her to her feet. He started to lead her over to the ladder that went up to her loft bedroom of the shop. They went a few steps when Charley stopped and pulled back.   
“No, no, I have work to do, stuff to finish up, need money.” She mumbled practically falling asleep on her feet. “No, you need to go to bed, there is a good girl.” Modo said while putting an arm around her to keep her from falling over. Big Bro Mode had been fully activated. It could switch on so easy.   
Suddenly the rear door of the Last Chance came swinging open, and in walked Hard Luck, carrying a pile of boxes stacked up so that he couldn’t see where he was going. “Hey, Davidson I got those parts you sent me and Dently after…” He said and then walked blindly into Modo. CRASH went all the boxes and Hard Luck as they fell into a big pile on the floor. Some of the parts and things falling out of some of the open boxes adding to the chaos.   
“Owww!” Hard Luck groaned. “Whu, who parked that Tank there?” He asked slightly muffled with his head now in one of the empty part boxes. The Noise shocked Charley (more) awake. “Ahh, My Parts!” She yelled when she took in the mess! She went to her knees and started to gather the things up off the floor. “I swear Hard Luck, you need to learn to be more careful, this stuff costs money, and why did you open some of them?!” She yelled. Her face turning red. “Uh, I, that is. I mean that is…”Hard Luck mumbled from inside the box.   
Modo reached down and pulled the box off. “Hi Little Bro.” He said and reached down and pulled Hard Luck up to stand, unsteadily on his feet. “Oh, Hey Big Bro, so I guess I know where the Tank came from, huh.” He said with a crooked smile.   
Ignoring the brotherly welcome, Charley kept yelling. She had reached that level of tired. “Why did you open these boxes, things all over the place, I swear if anything got broken…” She went on. “Modo stepped forward and raised his hands. “Ok guys let’s just try to calm…” He started to say but got cut off. “Hey, Yuh, you guh, gotta check stuff!” Hard Luck jutted in with. Charley gave him a questioning look. “Sometimes thu, those Parts stu, stores will tuh, they try to rip you off.” Hard Luck added. His stuttering was kicking in full time. Modo gave him an odd look and started to say something but Charley jumped back into the argument.   
“Rip Off?” She Yelled. “My Parts People would Not Do that, and I do not appreciate you implying that…” She was going on until Hard Luck cut her off. “How a, am I suh, supposed tuh, to know that, that Lady ah, at thu, the luh, last puh, place luh looks at muh me fuh fuh, Funny!” He put out, his stuttering getting worse.   
“How Dare You Say that about Bernice!” Charley yelled at Him. Hard Luck took a step back and bumped into his motorcycle Dently who just rolled in thru the door behind him, and nearly knocking them both over. “Dently,Yuh, you tuh, tell huh, her about thu, the Lady with the Suh, scary evil eyes!” He stammered at Dently. Dently rattled off a bunch of noises, just adding to the confusion. Hard Luck just pointed at him and nodded. Dently didn’t seem to be entirely in agreement with him and kept making more noises and shacking.   
Modo raised his hands again to try and calm things down but no one took any notice of him. “Bernice has a lazy Eye, you insensitive jerk!” Charley snapped at him. “How aaa I mean I , uh..uh..HUMANS ARE WEIRD!” He snapped back!   
“Guys, can we just calm….” Modo said trying to defuse the situation but was interrupted by Dently cutting in with another barrage of loud engine noises. “Hey, whose side are you on?!” Hard Luck yelled at him, which just raised another round of noises. Modo tried to cut in again but this time Charley stopped him. “You are both Nuts, I swear you are driving me nuts with all this…” She yelled but Hard Luck started yelling back trying to defend himself while Dently bounced around honking and rattling.   
Modo, his eye glowing red took a deep breath and then let his own anger take over for a change. “QUIET!!!!!!” He yelled, literally making the walls of the Garage shake. Charley and Hard Luck were so startled they both fell onto their butts. Dently falling over as well with a loud clatter. All 3 stared up at him with a WHOA look on their faces.   
His big metal arm swung around and pointed its big finger at each of them in turn. “YOU!” He Yelled pointing at Charley. “UPSTAIRS AND INTO BED NOW!” He yelled at her. He then turned to Hard Luck. “YOU, YOUR TAIL ON THE COUCH AND DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING NOW!” He then turned to Dently. “YOU, PICK UP ALL THIS STUFF AND PUT IT ALL BACK IN THEIR PROPER BOXES NOW!” He finished and took another deep breath. They sat and stared at him for a few seconds. Modo’s Eye Flared a Deep Red again.  
“Yes Sir!” gasped Charley and jumped unsteadily to her feet and climbed the ladder as fast as she could to her room. “Yuh, Yes Mama, I mean Mr, I mean, I mean…” stammered Hard Luck who just clamped his paws around his mouth to stop himself from talking and ran as fast as he could to the old couch in the back of the Garage. Dently propped himself up with a mechanical arm that popped out of his tank chamber and quickly started picking up the fallen parts.   
Modo put his own hand to his head. He felt a bit of a headache coming on. That and he was a bit surprised at how he channeled his inner old Gray Furred Mama like that. He is not sure if she would be Proud or just laugh her tail off. Probably both, he decided. He sat down at the table and took a Root Beer out of the sack of groceries he brought in; it was a bit early, but he needed one. “Somebody needs to remind me to never have kids.” He sighed and took a drink.  
Limburger reached into the bowl of Slime Worms setting on his desk and grabbed a hand full of them and shoved them into his big mouth. He smiled and licked the slime off his fat cheeks and looked out his new Tower’s Office Window. He smiled smugly to himself. He took in the view afforded from his high viewpoint. He watched the dark green waters of Lake Michigan pound against the rocks of the island his tower sat on.   
He had built his new Tower on the island he owned that was located a dozen miles away from Chicago. It was the same Island he once used as a toxic waste dump and then as a Crooked Casino to rip off the gullible people of Shy Town. At least until those cursed Freedom Fighters had ruined it all. Ah, but this time…   
He looked out his window again and down at the castle like walls he had constructed around the base of his tower. They were lined with all kinds of weapons and sonar and radar emplacements. Throw in the remote location of His island and there was No Way those Miserable Mice could sneak up on him here. Granted it lacked the luxury of inner cosmopolitan convenience, but security and peace of mind had their value. That and he was extremely tired of having to rebuild this place. He reached down and pushed the intercom button on his desk. “Karbunkle get in here.” He ordered.   
The platform from the laboratory far below burst up thru the floor. Standing on it was the Devious Dr Karbunkle himself, wearing an ugly Hawaiian Shirt and sipping on a straw in a coconut shaped drink. He was enjoying the Island Lifestyle.   
“You bellowed my Polynesian cheese ball Commandant? “He oozed. Limburger rolled his eyes. He sometimes wondered how this idiot came up with these cheese puns. “Very Cute.” He replied wearily. “Just tell me where we are on Project SMI?   
“Eeeeh!” He gasped with a hideous smile. “Everything is proceeding Splendidly!” He said. “Thanks to your Perfect Planning and Supreme Strategizing almost all the necessary elements have been introduced into the system to achieve the required results.” He told Limburger practically bursting with self-pride. He then pointed a remote at the large computer screen mounted on the wall. It turned on and showed another view from the other side of the Island. There was a Large odd-looking machine.   
The Machine was almost as big as the tower itself. Half of it were enormous pipes going from the lake and into the back of the machine, which then went thru a maze of tubes, pipes and other glowing apparatus until massive fans launched the specially vaporized water residue into the sky and towards Chicago in a big wave of heat and humidity.   
“The Atmospheric Humidifier is working at Peak Offensive Efficiency ensuring that Chicago will be at the Proper fluidic Atmospheric Saturation levels to ensure Project SMI is ready to HATCH right on schedule. “he said. “All that is needed now are a few more chemical elements in the right quantities to finish up the special cocktails to add that little bit of extra ferocious flavor! “He finished with a sickening smile.   
“Excellent, now has that Fool Greasepit washed up on shore yet?” He asked. Dr. Karbunkle nodded yes. “Good, then send him back to the Mainland with however many Goons he can round up and tell him to go make a big enough ruckus to Lure those meddling Mice to him, and away from our real plans. “He chuckled.   
Karbunkle saluted and lowered the platform back down to his lab. Limburger turned and smiled at a very deep shadow on the other side of his office. “Yes. Greasepit will lure the Mice away from my New…. Employees shall we say, who will be doing the Real Work.” He said and laughed. Sounding incredibly pleased with himself.   
4 sets of glowing eyes glared back at him from the said shadows. They didn’t laugh with him.  
Charley awoke with a start and set straight up in bed! She looked all around her trying to identify the strange noise that was practically assaulting her hearing. It took her almost a full 20 seconds to recognize it as the sound of Quiet. A sound she was not awfully familiar with. Especially during the last 3 years or so. She looked at her clock and realized she had slept the entire day away! She rolled her eyes and wanted to reprobate herself for wasting the entire day when she had so much to do, but she had to admit. She felt a lot better. She really needed that rest.   
She got up and got herself straightened out before she climbed down the ladder into the garage. The Last Chance was in almost complete darkness. The Sun was just starting to set, but thanks to the buildings around the inside of the shop was in deep shadows. She stepped down from the ladder and slowly looked around. She couldn’t see or hear anything. She slowly started to make her way across the garage. She didn’t see anything in the main repair bays. She moved past the vehicles and made her way cautiously towards the rear. The Darkness just kept getting darker. She had to wonder if she was alone. She hadn’t been alone for weeks. She was almost nervous. Ok she admitted to herself. She was nervous.   
“huh, Hi Davison.” Hard Luck stuttered slightly as he turned on a lamp next to the old couch he was sitting on. Charley let out a loud gasp and clutched her chest next to her heart. How could a Mouse be so Quiet she wondered as she tried to get her pulse somewhere below jackhammer rates?   
“Dang it, Hard Luck, don’t Sneak Up on me like that.” She sighed. “Buh, but I was just sitting here.” He said nervously. “You know what I mean.’ She said and then tried to smile at him. She walked over and sit down on the couch next to him. She decided she should try to break the ice and try to get things on a more relaxed level. “So whatchya doing?” She asked.   
“Oh, juh, jus..erm. cough.” He started then stopped and cleared his throat and tried to calm himself down and to get his stuttering under control. She didn’t know why but for some reason She just seemed to make him nervous. “Me and Dently are just watching TV.” He said slowly and taking care to enunciate each word. She looked from him to the small portable TV setting on the cart in front of them. The TV that was turned off, and that had been off since she came down the ladder. She turned and gave him a “Huh?” Look.   
He gave her a confused look back and then he realized what her look meant. “Oh, no I mean I am watching TV just not on the TV.” He said as if this explained it all. He got the HUH? Look again. “I mean I’m not watching it on the TV, but Directly via the transmission waves.” He said and reached up with his left paw and finger flicked his metal antenna, which looked a lot like a set of old TV Rabbit Ear Antenna. They sparked when he did it.   
“Wow, I didn’t know you could do that.” She said. “How can you do that, aren’t they all encrypted?” She asked him. “Oh, it is easy, I just cracked the codes and…” He said to her with a bit a of a proud look before the up until now silent Dently let out a “Vroom” noise. Hard Luck gave his bike a nervous glance and then looked back at Charley and smiled weakly. “I mean that is, er, Me and Dently cracked the….” He said until once more cut off by a loud VROOM. “Sigh, I mean, DENTLY cracked the codes and shared them with me. “He said giving Dently a look that just said Big Mouth.   
Charley just had to chuckle at this. Loving the fact that Dently wasn’t about to let Hard Luck take any glory that belonged to him. That motorcycle had one odd personality. A lot like his owner she thought. Deciding to change the subject, she threw a couple of questions at them. “So where is Modo, and what all did I miss today?” She asked.   
“Oh, He and Dently finished up all your repair jobs that they could, and then He took the parts for their bikes back to the hangout…wherever that is.” He told her with a bit of odd look. That big lug she thought and smiled. She turned back and was about to say something to Hard Luck, but he cut her off before she could.   
“Oh, I helped too, I stuh. stayed huh, here on the couch and stayed out of their way all day.” He said being totally serious with only a slight stutter. She then looked down and noticed the large pile of empty Grape Soda Cans and chocolate doughnut wrappings clustered around him. “I appreciate that very much Hard Luck.” She said with a small smile. He just blushed slightly embarrassed and turned and stared off into the air again.   
She gave him a sad look and gave him as supportive smile as she could. “Look, Hard Luck, I want to apologize, I had no right to yell at you like I did this morning.” She said slowly. “You didn’t deserve it.” His green and yellow eyes grew wide and he got a guilty look on his face. “No, no I totally deserve it, you don’t need to apologize to me, really.” He said with a level of sincerity she wasn’t ready for.   
Not knowing what to say after that she just took his left paw in her right hand and gave it a slight squeeze and gave him a sad smile. His eyes grew wider and his lower jaw started to shake as if he was trying hard to think of something to say or have a panic attack.   
Moving fast to stop that from happening she said “So, uh mind if I watch TV too?” and she started to get up to grab the remote off the cart. “No, here let me do that.” He said and he got a look of deep concentration on his face, and suddenly a bolt of electricity shot from his antenna and hit the TV, turning it on.   
This time it was her turn to have her eyes pop open wide with shock. “Wow, I didn’t know you could do that!” She said with a gasp. The guilty look on his face deepened by a couple of notches. He acted like he just did something he shouldn’t have.   
“Fromage, I mean Cheese!” He said quickly! Remembering how Modo felt about him cussing in front of others. “I, I am sorry, I duh, didn’t mean to do that.” He said kind of lamely. She laughed at what passed for Bad Words with Martians and shook her head. “No, that was cool.” She said. “Ruh, really?” He asked her. She shook her head yes. “I can do this too!” He said and he started blinking, and ever time he did the channel changed. Charley had to admit. She was kind of impressed. Especially when she noticed that he was getting her channels she hadn’t gotten before.   
She watched some of the premium channels go bye. She could get to like this. She noticed a local news channel and told him to stop. She leaned in and watched. A local News Reporter was talking about some bizarre robberies that had been going on in the Chicago Area. She saw a few of the places that the guys had been battling Limburger’s Goons over the last few days. She frowned slightly at this. She hated when she got left out of the action. Especially since she had been all but forced to play at first, nurse, babysitter, and then responsible businesswoman. Sometimes life just sucked she thought bitterly to herself.   
Putting her attention back to the broadcast she noticed something else. The reporter was talking about another set of robberies that had been going on too! A set of smaller robberies at factories and labs all over the city. Robberies the Guys had not gotten involved with. Probably because they were being committed in the middle of the night and done far more subtlety then was Limburger and his Goons normal M.O. Heck Greasepit couldn’t break into a gumball machine with out leveling a city block. Some of these robberies were only just now being noticed after several days apparently.   
She thought that they needed to be told just in case this was something their least favorite Plutarkian bottom feeder was behind, and the chances of it not being him, well she didn’t want to hear those odds. That and she knew the only way her favorite Muscle-Bound Noodle Heads would learn about it would be if it was a Special News Bulletin that broke into what ever Sporting Event they were watching. In other words. Fat Chance!   
She jumped up off the couch and ran over to her CB Radio. Her special CB Radio that was programmed with special scrambled Martian Frequencies so that no one, on earth or otherwise could listen in on them. She turned the set on and grabbed the microphone. “Hey, guys its me Charley, are you there, comeback.” She said into the mic.  
“Uh, Duh, Davidson.” Hard Luck stammered quietly. Charley either not hearing him or ignoring him tried the radio again. “Guys, its Charley, answer me.” She said again but got only static. “Davidson.’ Hard Luck said again slightly louder. Charley tried again but still got only static. She checked she was on the right channel and again got only static. “Dav, Davidson I need to tell you…” Hard Luck tried again.   
“Just a second Hard Luck.” Charley said before changing the channel to the direct beam to the Scoreboard Hideout. “Guys, are you there, this is important!” She all but yelled into the mic but was still only getting static. She was starting to get worried. The only time they didn’t answer her was when they were in trouble, which was most times, or watching a game, which also led them to being in trouble. She fiddled with the CB controls some more.  
“DAVIDSON THE RADIO DON’T WORK!” Hard Luck yelled at her. Her head snapped around to look at him. “What did you say?” She asked. “I, I, suh, suh, said , tha, tha, that…” He tried to say but his stuttering was kicking in bad. She didn’t need him to tell her, she could guess. “You Broke It didn’t YOU!?” She snarled at him. He just kept his mouth shut and nodded lamely at her.   
She flipped open the access hatch on the side and looked at the radio’s internal mechanisms. Sure enough, half of it was a charred and burnt-out mess. “How did you do this!?” She yelled at him. He started to squirm on the couch and his jaw started to shake so much he couldn’t talk, and his antenna started to spark extremely fast and heavily. He pointed at them while they did this.  
Suddenly the TV Exploded in a Puff of Sparks and Smoke. He pointed at the TV and his still sparking antenna. “Let me guess, just like that.” Charley said, leaning on the counter and resting her head in her hands. She suddenly felt very tired again.   
“I am sorry Davidson, Modo was showing me how to work it and I was messing with it after He left and I kinda acc, accident…acc, ackk…” He was explaining to her until his stuttering kicked in again. Dently, wisely choosing not to get involved in this did his best to hide behind the old couch. Charley just sighed and massaged her forehead.   
Charley continued to lean on the counter and rub her aching forehead. Hard Luck did his best to stay quiet and got up to see if he could get the still smoking TV working again. Charley was thinking that she really should go tell the guys about what she had just learned about the robberies, and to be honest. She was looking for any excuse to get out of the Garage, if only for a little while. That and she really missed Vinnie, and Throttle too she quickly reminded herself.   
She looked up thru her fingers and noticed something. Off in the corner by the counter was a large slightly dust covered tarp. A determined look crossed her face and she stood up. No. She just had another idea. She walked over to the tarp and pulled it off with a big tug. Underneath it was her large black painted, and heavily armed and armored Mask Rider Motorcycle. She looked down at it with pride.   
She hadn’t been out riding her bike in a long while now. Not since when She had met Stoker, the Bro’s old mentor and leader from their Freedom Fighter days on Mars, and he had gotten her normal street bike wrecked. That was during the time Limburger tried to sell the people of Chicago Shampoo full of Brain Controlling Chemicals. Now that she thought about it. That had been a few months ago now. That was even before the major Planet Tug Adventure.   
She made up her mind. She turned and looked over at Hard Luck who had the back of the TV’s cover off and was poking at the smoking innards. “Hard Luck, I am going out.” She said. He stood up and looked at her and pulled the finger he had just burnt out of his mouth. “You are?” He asked her. She just nodded at him and started walking thru the garage. ‘Whu, where are you going?” He asked nervously. “Out.” She replied simply. “Aw, come on you gotta tell me more then that, what if the guys come by and ask. “He said quickly. “They won’t settle for just OUT!” He informed her. She stopped and thought for a minute. Darn it, as much as she might enjoy it, it wouldn’t be right to needlessly worry them, even if she thought they kind of deserved it. “I am going to go out and investigate those other robberies that have been going on the last few days and see what I can learn about them. “She told him.   
His eyes nearly popped out of his head. Even Dently’s Camera Eye rose from behind the couch. “Yuh, you, you can’t do that!” He gasped at her. She gave him a look. ‘Why can’t I?” She asked him, turning to face him, and crossing her arms. She wanted to hear this.   
He ducked down behind the TV a little, he hoped it would give him a little cover. “You can’t do that because…” he stopped and thought fast. “…because the Guys won’t Like it!” He tossed out at her.   
She Glared at Him! He ducked down further behind the TV. Dently disappeared behind the couch. Hard Luck was tempted to dive back there with him.   
“The “GUYS” are Not My Keepers!” She yelled at him. “I am a Full-Grown Adult and More then Capable of Taking Care of Myself!” she snapped at him. Hard Luck looked like he felt He should say something but didn’t’ have the courage to do it. He kept his mouth shut and just stared at her.   
This is My City, and I am going to Do something to Protect It! She said Determinately. “And if “The Guys” have a Problem with that, then that is THEIR PROBLEM NOT MINE!” She yelled. “I am going to go change, get my bike ready and GO Out and Do Something About it, and if “The Guys” don’t like it then Tough Cheese!” She yelled and stormed off towards the ladder leading up to her loft.   
Hard Luck was now hopping up and down on his mechanical leg and making nervous hand gestures and looking like he was about to have a panic attack. Dently rolled out from behind his hiding spot behind the couch and stood next to him. They looked at each other. Dently’s Mounted Camera Eye made fast jerking motions. Going from looking at Hard Luck and over to the ladder Charley had just climbed up. Hard Luck stared at him with a non-comprehending look on his fuzzy face.   
Dently rattled angerly and a little wiper blade popped out next to his camera eye and went across the eye in a clear way that empathized an angry expression. Hard Luck finally got the message loud and clear. It was “GO WITH HER STUPID!”  
“Oh, this is bad, this is bad...I am gonna get in so much trouble!” He whined to himself and ran after Charley. “huh, huh, Hey Davidson, Wait For ME!” He yelled up after her. Dently just made a mechanical sigh and rolled after him.   
Behind them all and going completely unnoticed the broken TV came back on. Its picture was full of static and rolling like it was on a boat in a storm at sea. The Reporter on the street was saying something in the “Lighter Side of the News” Segment. It was something about Strange Noises being heard coming from the city sewers and reports of people claiming to see Monsters. “Boy those Silly Chicago Residents. What won’t they dream up next?” The Reporter said with a painted-on smile before the TV broke down again. 

To Be Continued…


	3. Biker Mice from Mars: Slime Mold Dance pt3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are on the move, and stuff happens... I suck at summaries

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
The Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 3

Hot and Sticky. It wasn’t even officially summer in Chicago yet, but it felt like it was August wrapped in a wet blanket. The Citizens of the city were doing whatever they could to cool off. Those that had air conditioners cranked them up. Those without made do. Windows were opened and fans turned on, doing anything they could to either find or create a cool breeze. Sadly, nothing seemed to be working.   
Some kids on a street had gotten an Old-Fashioned Big City Idea on how to beat the Heat. A group of about 6 or so, after finding a big old wrench, they had pried open a side cap on a fire hydrant! Cold Water gushed out like a mini waterfall filling the street!   
The Kids ran and jumped in the water, splashing themselves and each other. Looking down at them from their apartment windows, their parents and other adults watched them. Somewhere thinking that they should scold the kids and put a stop to them wasting the water, but most of them were just seriously tempted to go out and join them.   
Suddenly the water erupting from the hydrant gurgled and slowed to a trickle. The Kids stopped playing and looked at the hydrant with confusion on their faces. They wondered if someone hadn’t paid the water bill, or if they had used it all up. Some just let out a few choice words that some of the adults watching wondered where they learned them. The Hydrant started to rattle and shake.   
The Kids stared at it. Some of them running to the perceived security of their apartment building stoops. A couple of the braver ones slowly walked up to investigate the odd acting hydrant. The shaking hydrant suddenly stopped. The kids looked at it, hopefully wondering if the water would return. Something did, but it wasn’t water!   
A Smelly Green Ooze shot out and started to fill the street! The kids screamed and jumped out of the street to stand on the street curb, watching the ooze puddle grow bigger and bigger! IT smelled bad! Some of the kids ran inside to get away, while the last of the braver kids stayed, but the smell was tempting them to run too!  
The Ooze suddenly stopped flowing out of the hydrant. It nearly filled the entire street. It steamed and bubbled and made weird noises. It almost seemed like the stuff was ALIVE!  
A City Bus came around the corner and unknowingly drove right into the puddle. The Ooze clung to the bus’s tires. Several loud bangs filled the area! The Tires burst like balloons! The bus slammed to a stop as its tireless metal rims bit into the street! Sparks flew as the bus screeched to a complete halt. The Citizens on the bus thankfully didn’t get hurt, but they too let out a few choice words that their parents would have washed their mouths out if they had heard them.   
Suddenly the ooze flowed away and down the storm-grates in the curbs. The air cleared and no longer smelled, plus most of the litter and refuse on the street was gone to. It was like the strange ooze had never been there. The Citizens from the apartment buildings and the Bus stood around scratching their heads wondering where the stuff went, and what it was. They were so distracted that none of them heard the two powerful engines of two motorcycles as they sped by on another street.   
“I am gonna get in so much trouble!” grumbled Hard Luck riding on his motorcycle Dently as they followed Charley on her Masked Ryder Cycle. “Will you relax!” Charley shouted back at him. “What makes you think you are going to get into trouble?” She asked him. He just stared back at her with a look of shock which was obvious even from behind his helmet’s visor.   
“Are you NUTS!?” He yelled back at her. “How do you think Modo, Throttle, and, uh, Fred are going to react when they learn we are doing this!” He snapped at her. “And do you run around dressed like that very often, not that I am complaining mind you.” He said mumbling that last bit under his breath.   
“There is nothing wrong with how I am dressed!” Charley yelled at him defiantly. She was wearing her dark pink and black Masked Ryder Leather outfit. She hadn’t worn it in a long time. “Just think of it as a disguise.” She told him trying to justify her style choice. “Besides it’s not exactly like either of our bikes are street legal, and I wouldn’t want to get us In Trouble if I got recognized, now would I?” She said with a condescending smirk on her face, which was partially hidden by her reflective helmet visor.   
Hard Luck stayed silent for a few seconds before he replied to her. “I am gonna get in so much trouble.” He whined again. “No, You Aren’t!” She said. “You’re right.” He said. “WE are gonna get in so much Trouble!” He cried. Charley just rolled her eyes and accelerated. “Hey, wait for Me!” Hard Luck shouted and Dently zoomed to catch up to her.   
At their Scoreboard Hideout at the Quigley Stadium. The Biker Mice were doing some much-needed repairs to their beloved motorcycles. They had been putting their bikes thru their paces the last few days. Greasepit and the Goons had been attacking and trying to steal resources all over Chicago.   
“Toss me that screwdriver, Vinnie.” Modo asked his White Furred Friend. “Sure, thing My Big Buddy-a-Reno.” Vinnie said reaching for the tool sitting on his Red Rocket Cycle’s seat. He picked it up and started to juggle it between his paws and his tail. Doing all kinds of tricks. Modo sighed. “Anytime Bro.’ He said slowly. Smiling, Vinnie flipped the driver up, and flicked it with his tail, sending it flying towards Modo, who grabbed it at the last second with his cyborg hand. “Thanks.” He said and leaned over Lil Hoss to tighten up some parts.   
“Always glad to be of use.” Vinnie laughed. “Oh, and if you need any Expert Mechanical assistance you just go ahead and ask me.” He said smugly. “Right.” Modo replied, his single eye-rolling in its socket. “Never let it be said that I, Vinnie VanWham, Expert Martian Mechanical Engineer, was never one to offer his supreme services to his fellow Freedom Fighters when in need.” He said while patting his bike as if to demonstrate how good his repair skills are.   
Too bad the part he just installed fell off with a loud clunk. “Whoops!” Vinnie gasped as he snatched it up in a futile attempt to keep his bros from noticing. “I will keep that in mind.” Modo laughed. “Better be careful there, Master Mechanic, wouldn’t want you to misfire your engine and burn that tail of yours again.” Throttle said with a smile jabbing at Vinnie’s pride.   
Vinnie snarled and ground his teeth. He still couldn’t think up a comeback to Throttle’s teasing him on the burnt tail fiasco from earlier. “Where is a wrench, I need a wrench.” He grumbled and walked over to a toolbox to look for one. Modo stood up and walked over to Throttle, who was busy working on his own bike as well.   
“You have been laying on this Tail Tease pretty thick their Leader Mouse.” Modo whispered to him. Hoping that Vinnie was far away and distracted enough to not overhear him. With those big Martian Ears, not being overheard was a bit of a trick. “Relax Mega Mouse, I got reasons for my meanness.” Throttle whispered back.   
Modo gave him a questioning look. This he had to hear. “And those reasons would be?” He asked. “Tail Tease Play # 7B.” He answered him. “I don’t remember that one.” Modo told him with a puzzled look. “Of course not, I just made it up.” Throttle said with a quiet chuckle.  
“The first reason is that since I started the tail teasing bit, is that even after a couple of hours bike repair time, he hasn’t even mentioned You Know Who this whole time.” Throttle pointed out. Now that Modo thought about it. Charley hadn’t even been mentioned since he first brought the parts back from the Last Chance earlier today, and they had been in one battle with Greasepit since then. That being a big reason for this repair stop.   
“So, what is the other reason?” He asked. A guilty look crossed Throttle’s furry face. “I have kind of been enjoying it.” He said not taking his gaze off his repair job. A Look crossed Modo’s big face. A look that had been on it once earlier today all ready. Big Brother Mode had been activated. Again. Modo reached down his big left paw and picked Throttle up by the scruff of his neck.   
“Hey!” Gasped Throttle suddenly finding himself up in the air. Modo walked over to the chairs in front of their TV and dropped Throttle on to one of them. “Oof.” He gasped as he landed. “Vincent, Here. NOW!” He barked. Vinnie was running across the hideout before he even realized he was doing it. Vinnie ran over and jumped over to sit on one of the other chairs.   
“What I do, what I do, I didn’t do nothing!” Vinnie stammered like he had just got caught with his paw in the snack box. Throttle just crossed his arms and settled in for a good Stern Talking too. He had a feeling Modo had been holding this in for a while. Modo took up a stance in front of them and gave them both one of his better Glares!  
“Ok, I already had to go Full Parental on the other two, now it's you two knuckleheads turn.” He growled at them. Throttle and Vinnie just fidgeted in their seats but didn’t say anything. “I have been making up lame excuses for over two weeks now, and I am getting right tired of it!” He said looking down at them.   
A few mumbled pleads of ignorance and other nonsense were the only replies he got. “Look, neither of you two have been to see Charley in all this time and she does actually miss you two.” He pointed out to them. “And She is starting to really wonder why, and I am not going to be the one to TRY and explain your stupid reasons for avoiding her, or should I say HIM!” Modo finished with.   
“Hey, My Reasons are Not Stupid!” Throttle angrily pointed out then pointed at Vinnie with his thumb. “Vinnie’s reasons are Stupid, but Mine Aint!” He added. A look of shock took hold on Vinnie’s face. “Oh, Oh, Oh!” He gasped out. “My reasons are Stupid!?” Vinnie angrily spouted. “If My Reasons are stupid then so are yours!”  
This just started an argument of {No Mine Aren’t but his are} between the two among a bunch of fingers being pointed at each other. Modo’s Eye Glowed Red. His cyborg arm pulled a mechanical chop down in between the two. It happened so fast both Throttle and Vinnie were caught off guard and fell backward tipping their chairs over and falling onto their tails.   
“Ouch, Oof!” Throttle and Vinnie chorused as they looked up at Modo towering over them. “OK, I have had it. You two are going to get your bikes running and then we are going straight over to the Last Chance and we are putting everything on the table, and I don’t want to hear nothing out of either of you two, GOT IT!?” Modo laid out to them in a voice that said He wasn’t going to take ANY guff from them. They stared up at him then looked at each other then back up at him then both leaped up to their feet and ran over to their bikes and got to work on them.   
“Momma, give me strength.” Modo sighed and walked over to finish his own repairs on Lil Hoss.  
“Greasepit, My Asinine Associate, what is our status on Goon Numbers?” Limburger asked talking into his portable phone. “Duh, No Go on the Goons Boss.” Greasepit answered him. “The only Goons we got left are the ones you said gotta stay on Island Defense.” He said. “Blast it all, very well. Refrain from any further erroneous endeavors for the time being my dear boy.” He purred into the phone. “Huh?” questioned Greasepit.   
Limburger sighed. “Just do what you do best. Absolutely Nothing!” He yelled and hung up on him. Without Goons to supply a distraction, it was a risky gamble to acquire any of the necessary items needed for Karbunkle to complete Operation SMI.   
He wondered what the status on Double R was? Did he want to ask Karbunkle for an update on that? No, best to leave the Demented Doctor to the nefarious doings he decided. Well, that and He could do without another of his sycophantic schmoozing’s. Even Limburger could take so much of that.   
Now his conundrum was to employ patience and wait until his Goon Army was replenished and could be used to distract his most hated of hostiles, or take a gamble and use his new assets to obtain what he needed? To Play it Safe or Not. That is the Question. He turned in his chair and looked out his window at the faint glow of the city on the horizon. The light was being reflected off the thick haze of heat and humidity hanging over it.   
It did give it all a very Doom-laden appearance. He made his mind up. Victory Favors the Bold as so the old saying goes. That and he really didn’t want to wait. Plus considering Greasepit’s report of the last battle. The Mice’s motorcycles appeared to need some refurbishment. He would take the chance. He could also check on the Double R Problem at the same time too. He picked up his phone and made a call to his New Assets. That and they did have a talent for imperceptible capability.   
“We’ve been out almost all night; can we go back to the Garage now?” Hard Luck asked with a nervous tremble in his tinny voice. “It's only been an hour since we left, and it is not even 10 O’clock yet!” Charley gasped. She wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take. She had only known Hard Luck for about 3 weeks, and he was NOTHING like any of the Martian Mice she had met so far. There was only one way she could describe him. DAMAGED! She had only been into battle with him a couple of times and from that, it was obvious he didn’t have the desire or real ability for it the Guys did.   
Oh, sure Modo and Throttle liked to say they didn’t enjoy fighting, but she saw the smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the adrenaline rushes, they got from it like the far more Open about it Vinnie. Vinnie was practically addicted to the stuff.   
Pulling up to a stoplight, she turned and took in the Blue Furred Mouse again. He was trying to look in every direction. He acted like he expected some unseen horrors to leap out of every shadow. He was nervous for some reason. She could tell because she had learned that when he was, his left paw would go up and squeeze the little medallion he wore around his neck or the green bandana attached to his leather helmet. He did that when he was upset. She didn’t know what significance the items meant to him, but she could tell they were extremely important to him. The bruise He left on her arm taught her that.   
“Look, Hard Luck, just calm down. I am just trying to help figure out what Limburger is up to, and just get out of the shop for a while.” She said trying to calm him down. “I am not out here looking to get into a fight or anything. I just needed to get out and away... I mean get some air.” She fumbled. She hoped he didn’t notice that she almost said Away from You. It was now her turn to give him a nervous glance.   
“Uh, yeah, right, sure.” He said distractedly. He was still looking at everything but her. His motorcycle, Dently kept looking at her and then at him. The Poor thing seemed like it wanted to tell her something but just couldn’t or wouldn’t get the message across. It was almost as confusing and frustrating as Hard Luck. They made a pair all right.   
They were cruising along the east side of the city in a more Up Scale Industrial type area. “Look Hard Luck, we aren’t even in a Bad Part of Town anymore.” She said pointing out the area. “It's nothing but office buildings, warehouses, and laboratories.” She added. They were all dark and silent. Everything was closed for the night. She reached down and turned on her bike’s radio and turned it to the police scanner setting. She listened for a few minutes, but other than the normal level of Chicago Crazy, she didn’t hear anything that caught her attention.   
She sat in thought wondering if she was wasting her time when she heard Hard Luck make a frightened squeak. She turned around quickly and caught him looking away from a dark alley next to a large Laboratory Warehouse next to the lakeshore. “Did You see something?” She asked him. She got her answer from the Full and open look of Guilt that was literally painted on his face.   
“uh, nuh, nuh, no!” He stammered, while still glancing at the alley. Looking over his shoulder she saw someone, or something move into the dark. She gave him a withering look and turned her bike. “Nice Try.” She told him. She rode off and pulling a jump with her bike’s jets, she jumped the Lab’s fence and went into the alley. Hard Luck watched her go and shivered, despite the heat. “Well, just don’t sit there and look at me, follow your own advice and, Go After Her Stupid!” He said while giving Dently a dirty look. Dently just rumbled his engine at having his words thrown back at him and chased after Charley.   
Charley tore into the alley like a runaway train! Her bike’s engine roaring and lights on full brightness! “Sheesh Charlene, you have been hanging with the guys too much, cause you get no points on stealth for that one.” She said to herself. If she wanted to sneak up on whoever was moving around back here, she blew that one big. A loud Crashing and Bashing Noise nearly startled her off her bike! She turned to see Hard Luck and Dently picking themselves up out of a bunch of trash cans, and empty boxes they had just demolished.   
Once more, she had to wonder how that “quiet as a mouse” saying ever got started, cause whoever thought it up never met a Martian Mouse she thought with a smile. A movement caught her eye. She looked up and saw a big pair of Double Doors up on a flight of wide concrete stairs and a loading ramp slam shut.   
She rode up the ramp next to the big warehouse door. She almost crashed thru them but stopped herself at the last second. “Whoa, there girl.” She gasped. “I don’t know if this is one of Limburger’s tricks, or who that is, so my smashing everything up Biker Mice style probably isn’t the smartest course of action. “She thought to herself. She looked at the door. It was locked. It also had an electronic lock on it. It was flashing in the secured setting.   
Hard Luck and Dently pulled up next to her. “What is it?” He asked her. “It's locked.” She said. She turned to look in her tool kit to see if she could find anything to bypass the electrics and pop the lock. She heard a buzz followed by a few clicks. She looked up. The doors were wide open, and Hard Luck looked at her. “I got it open.” He said plainly.   
She stared at him. “How did you do that?” She asked shocked. “This thing?” He asked while looking at her and pointing at the door. “Oh, that was easy.” He said matter of fact. She looked at him again. “Well, I take it you did want it open?” He looked at her and asked. She just nodded. “Yeah, I figured if we are going to get into Trouble, we may as well get into Big Trouble!” He sighed and backed out of the way to let her take the lead.   
She drove into the big warehouse. It was dark and full of shadows. Row after row of tall shelves filled with all kinds of boxes and containers. Charley turned on her bike's big spotlight. She moved the beam around. It just made the shadows deeper around the light. “There could be an army hiding in here.   
Hard Luck and Dently pulled up beside her. Dently turned up his lights as well. That helped a lot. Whatever Dently’s power source was, it had her bike beat. Now almost half the warehouse was lit up like it was noon. She gave Hard Luck an encouraging smile. He gave her a weak one back. A strange rushing sound echoed off the walls. It sounded like odd cloth and lithe feet moving quickly somewhere ahead of them in the rows of shelves.   
Charley activated her bike's weapons. “Ok, whoever is there, come out, you’re, uh, Trespassing!” She yelled out. Hoping they didn’t realize she was doing the exact same thing. She flipped a switch and her bike's weapons activated. Hard Luck and Dently pulled up beside her and did the same.   
Suddenly an electrical crackling noise ripped thru the silence. Charley’s bike suddenly lost all its power and she nearly fell over. Dently’s lights suddenly cut out too, and the warehouse plunged into a canyon of darkness and shadows. “Hey, what’s going on?!” Charley yelled, trying to restart her bike. Dently started rattling off a bunch of noises too.  
“We much prefer it this way.” A deep and growling voice said from somewhere in the darkness around them. Charley looked around but she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. “Hard Luck can you see anything?” She yelled out to him. He didn’t answer. Dently rattled and banged. She could barely make out the shape of them in the dark. “HARD LUCK?!” She yelled again. Dently let out a loud Honk from his horns. “SHUT UP!” Hard Luck yelled which was followed by his antenna sparking like lightning around him. Dently let out a whimper. “Hard Luck what is going on, what is wrong with you?!” Charley yelled at him confused.  
Hard Luck let out a gasp and then stammered “Uh,huh, wha, whatsgoin-on?” He sounded like he just woke up. “Hard Luck, what is wrong with you?!” Charley asked him barely keeping her voice under control. “My head hurts.” He moaned somewhere in the dark. Charley started grabbing blindly until she touched him and reeled him in by the arm. “Hard Luck, we are in a bit of a situation here so I could appreciate it if you could FOCUS!” Charley growled at him.   
“Hey, what happened to your bike, what happened to Dently’s lights?” He asked. “What is wrong with you?” Charley couldn’t believe he was so out of it. She could hear him shaking his head as if he tried to clear it. “Here, let me turn on my helmet’s night vision circuit.” He said and she could hear him tapping at it. “There that is better.” He said. A faint glow was coming from his visor. At least Charley could tell where he was now.   
A sharp whistling noise sounded, and something flew thru the air and hit square in the center of Hard Luck’s Visor. A burst of energy engulfed it like fire! “Yeeow!” Bellowed Hard Luck and he fell off Dently! He landed with a thud and his old, battered helmet broke into pieces and fell off. Another sound ripped thru the dark. It hit Dently, and it erupted in another flash of energy! Dently fell over, entrapped in a faintly glowing energy mesh!   
A Loud Slam came from behind them. The Large Doors they came thru went closed! Charley pulled her laser pistol from a holster on her leg and pointed it all around her. “Stay where you are!” She shouted. Hoping her voice didn’t sound as scared as she was.   
“Now, now it is rude to point.” Another voice almost as deep and sinister as the first spoke. It was followed by a loud cracking noise! Something flew out and wrapped around Charley’s pistol and tore it out from her grip. It exploded a few seconds later!   
The Flash blinded Her, now everything was both dark and full of stars! “Oh Great.” Charley grumbled. She could hear Hard Luck’s mechanical leg whirring as it pushed him up onto his feet. “Chu, cha…Char…Davidson are you ok!?” Hard Luck yelled at her from the darkness. Almost choking on her first name before falling back on her surname. He sounded like he could fall over any second.   
“Oh, I am just terrific!” She moaned and pushed up her visor on her helmet and rubbed her eyes with her hands. Trying to clear her sight, for all the good it would do her. “Grrr, this is no challenge at all.” Something said standing right next to her. Charley threw a punch but she either missed by a mile or whatever it was, dodged her with far more ease than she cared to think about. “Sadly I have to agree, but we are not allowed the luxury of sport for,,.Ugh!” Something else said but was cut off by a noise that sounded a lot like a punch! “Ha, take that ya creep!” Hard Luck cheered! 3 more hits sounded out. The thing grunted each time. “Not all of us are totally helpless in the dark, ya jerk!” Hard Luck snapped at their foes. Charley almost let out a cheer! “Ahh, this is more like it!” The other creature hissed, and Charley found herself being pushed and tripping over her fallen bike. “Hey!” She yelled as she landed with a thud.   
A Pow sounded out followed by two more strikes! “Ow, oof, uh!” Hard Luck grunted. ‘Yer gonna haf to hit me harder than…” He started to say but was interrupted by a Louder Crunch! “….thu…att” He gargled. More sounds of kicks and punches sounded out and grunts of pain from Hard luck, which was followed up by Him letting out a loud gasp followed by a loud crash and smashing sound of falling debris. Charley guessed that Hard Luck got sent flying across the warehouse to an uncomfortable landing.   
Something grabbed Charley by the throat, and she was lifted off her feet. Suddenly she was caught in a bright light, The Thing holding her dropped her and she landed on her backside with an oof. Dently still trapped in the mesh had managed to turn his headlight on. Charley looked up at the creatures she had been fighting. The Alien Hunters known as Stalkers stared back at her with Cruel Eyes! “Oh Boy!” Charley gasped.   
“This one showed spirit and courage, maybe we could take it back with us to the island to entertain ourselves with later?” One of the other Stalkers asked the one that was the Leader. This one was a Dark Orange color. Charley remembered it from the time it came to earth to hunt Rimfire, and his Uncle Modo, and Throttle and Vinnie. “We have more pressing concerns to occupy ourselves with. “It snapped at its companion, who was a dull gray color. Another stalker came running out of the darkness of the warehouse to join them. It was also a gray-colored one. It was also wearing a High-tech Backpack that looked familiar to Charley, but she couldn’t think of what it was right now. She was kind of distracted.  
She looked over and saw Hard Luck had been thrown into a metal shelf and knocked it over. He was partially buried under all kinds of boxes and equipment. He was groaning and trying to pull himself out, but he was pinned under the heavy machinery. He looked up and gave her a helpless look. She returned it.   
The Lead Hunter turned to the one with the backpack. “Did you complete your task?” It asked roughly. It nodded. “Good, then let us depart here, but I demand a Trophy for my trouble.” It snarled and looked down at Charley. Its eyes glowed a sick yellow, it pulled a large, and nasty curved blade from a sheath on its belt. Its companions laughed mimicking its evil glare. Charley looked up at them and her face went pale.   
“NO!” Yelled Hard Luck! He activated the jet in his mechanical leg and shot out from under the debris and flew across the warehouse like a Blue Furred Missile! The Stalkers all froze! Hard Luck slammed into all three and carried them across the warehouse! They slammed into the Concrete Wall and smashed thru it! The jet still firing carried all 4 of them out over the lake! It suddenly flared out and then fell into the dark waters! Charley got up and ran over to the hole!   
“HARD LUCK!!!!!” She screamed! The only answer was the waves hitting the stones along the shore. 

To Be Continued…


	4. Biker Mice from Mars: Slime Mold Dance pt4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get all the Mice and Charley into one room. so character development time...kinda I guess?

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
The Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 4

The big metal garage bay doors of the Last Chance started to rumble and clank as they rolled up into the open position. Suddenly a Red Tornado came roaring into the bay! It was accompanied by a loud Heavy Metal Tune, and someone not doing an exceptionally good job of singing along with it. The Tornado suddenly came to a stop of screeching rubber and engine revving.   
Still standing on its front tire, Vinnie came flying off the cycle, doing a quadruple summersault before landing on his feet and taking a bow. “Hey, Charley-Doll!” He yelled. “Your Number One Hero has come to call!” His voice full of bluster! He looked around the dark garage. “Uh, Hello? “He called out again. “Hey Charley, are you here?” Still no answer. “Aw Man!” He whined. “I hate it when I pull off a perfect entrance and there isn’t any one around to appreciate it.” He said irritated.   
Modo rolled in on Lil Hoss a few seconds after him and looked around the empty garage. He looked at Vinnie and whispered. “She might be asleep Vinnie, it is nearly 1AM.” Although after he thought for a second, who could sleep thru a Vinnie VanWham Entrance like that.   
“Hey, you are right, she could be asleep.” Vinnie said, then got a mischievous glean in his pink eyes. “Its Friday Night, she doesn’t have to get up tomorrow.” He laughed. “Wake up Charley Girl, The Bros are in the Shop and its time to Party!” He Cheered and ran over and jumped up the ladder that led to the Loft above the garage.   
Modo looked over at the dark rear section of the garage. He flipped on the lights. The TV area was empty too. There was no sign of either Hard Luck or his motorcycle/companion Dently either. Throttle’s head popped up from the corner of the garage door. “Is it safe?” He asked with a slight nervousness in his usually calm voice. Modo gave him a look and replied. “Its Safe, He isn’t here.” He went to look around the garage again just to make sure.   
“Whew, I mean darn it.” Throttle gasped then lamely tried to cover it up. He then walked in to stand next to Modo. “Hey, Charley isn’t here either!” Vinnie called down from the top of the ladder. “Her battle bike is gone to.” Throttle said, noticing the empty corner where the vehicle normally was stored under a heavy tarp, which was folded up on the floor.   
Vinnie jumped down from the loft, grabbing some of the chains hanging from the garage roof, used for moving engines. He swung over and did another flip to land next to His bros. To which even Throttle and Modo didn’t notice owing to their concern for the missing friends and they were just that used to Vinnie by now.   
“Where could She be?” Vinnie asked. Throttle looked at him with a slightly crooked smile. “She might have gone out to do something fun, it is a Friday night you know.” Vinnie’s eyes grew wide with disbelief. “Fun?” He gasped. “Without me? How is that possible?” He asked with mock shock.   
“Hard Luck isn’t here either, maybe they went out together!?” Throttle said to him with an even crookeder smile. This just made Vinnie’s jaw drop open and his eyes lock on to Throttle. He wisely kept all the thoughts suddenly popping into his mind to himself, for once. Throttle just kept smiling at him.   
Modo walked back over to them. “Well, I found out why we couldn’t raise them on the CB, its Fried!” He said to them with a hint of concern sneaking into his voice. Vinnie, not hearing this either willingly or unwillingly masked his own concern with impatience and immaturity. Standard Vinnie Protocol.  
“If you two mechanical no-nothings hadn’t wasted all that time installing those broken parts onto our bikes, we wouldn’t have wasted so much time and I could have gotten here in time to go with her, I mean WE could have gotten here in time to go with them.” He fumbled lamely adding that last part.   
“Hey, it was me and my bike that noticed the parts that WE were installing on OUR Bikes were defective.” Throttle pointed out to the young hot head. “If I hadn’t said anything You would probably have blown yourself up launching out of the scoreboard.” He finished with while poking Vinnie in the chest with his finger. “That would have burnt your tail up really good, but I suppose you are kind of getting used to that feeling by now, huh Vinnie!?” Throttle ended with a chuckle.   
A look of Frustration gripped Vinnie’s face and his jaw started working up and down. He still couldn’t think up any comebacks to this running gag being played on him. “You two knock it off, or I will set both your tails on fire!” Modo barked at them. This little running feud was starting to get his dander up. Throttle had told Modo his reason for teasing Vinnie was to keep his mind off not seeing Charley too much the last couple of weeks, but he had also let it slip he was kind of enjoying it. Modo was starting to suspect the latter reason was taking precedence of the two.   
“Look, I am sure they will both be back before long, let’s just calm down and wait for them to get back, maybe watch some TV while we wait. “Modo said hoping to defuse the situation a little. “Cool Idea Big Guy, but the TV is busted too.” Throttle said. He had walked over to the TV. It was still smoking slightly. A sure sign that Hard Luck had been there.  
“How about a game of Chinese Checkers?” Vinnie said with a hopeful smile. “No!” They both chorused. Vinnie just shrugged and smiled at them.   
They were cut off when a thunderous noise came exploding into the garage! Racing almost out of control, Charley riding on Dently came tearing down the street, and slid into the garage, Charley almost being thrown off! It was a good thing Dently had a seatbelt.  
The Bro’s ran over to them. Charley tried to leap off Dently, but she stumbled and nearly fell, Vinnie dashing forward and catching her. “Easy there Babe, I know you must be excited to see me, but you got to be more careful!” Vinnie joked at her.   
Charley, gasping for breath tried to say something but couldn’t. “Hey, what are you doing riding on Dently?” Throttle asked? “Yeah, and where is Hard Luck?!” Modo added. Anxiety written all over his face. Dently remained uncharacteristically quiet, but no one seemed to notice.   
Charley pushed away from Vinnie and fell back against Dently, whose camera eye swiveled to look up at her. She pulled off her Masked Ryder helmet and pushed her hair back and wiped sweat from her face. She put her hand on Dently for support and gave him a sad look. She turned back to the guys. “Hu, huh, HARD LUCK!” She stammered, still struggling for breath! The Increasing Heat and Humidity was making it hard for her to breathe.   
“Gee, Charley Babe, you didn’t have to get all dressed up for me, but I do appreciate it!” Vinnie sneered taking in her leathers. She hadn’t worn that outfit in a long time, and he wasn’t about to miss the chance to enjoy it.   
Throttle came over and pushed him out of the way and handed Charley a cold glass of water. “Here, drink some of this Charley, and ignore him!” He said to her. Charley gulped the water down. The water helped her to get her voice back, almost.   
“Huh, Hard Luck, Warehouse, Stalkers, Lake!” She stammered breathlessly. The guys all circled around her and started throwing questions at her. Charley started to falter under the hail of questions being thrown at her. Dently curled his front wheel forks around her protectively and let out an almost deafening roar from his exhaust! “Whoa!” all 3 of the Biker Mice yelped and jumped back a foot or two.   
Charley turned and patted Dently’s camera eye. “Thank You.” She smiled at him. He gave her the moment she needed to get her voice back. Dently’s motor hummed at her with a sad vibration. She turned to the Mice and began to fill them in on what had been happening. She told them about going out to investigate the other robberies that had been going on, that they hadn’t heard about. About them spotting the mysterious movement around the Laboratory Warehouse, and the fight with the Stalkers inside. She then finished with the last time she saw Hard Luck.  
“And the last I saw of him was him falling into the Lake with the Stalkers, and I looked for him, I mean We looked for him for hours, but we, we couldn’t, we didn’t find…” She was saying while leaning on Dently, the stress of it starting to catch up to her. Vinnie stepped back up next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.   
“Easy, Charley, relax, we will go out there, and we will find him!” He said to try and relax her. “Yeah, I aint gonna rest till I find my Little Brother!” Modo Chimed in. His eye glowing red with emotion and determination! “With our Bikes and gear, it won’t take us 5 minutes to find him and lay a pounding on those Stalker Freaks!” Throttle added and went to whistle to their bikes. The Guys turned to run and ride off to the rescue!  
“No!” Charley yelled at them! “You can’t! They stopped and stared back at her. “Why not?” Vinnie asked? He didn’t like it when they were stopped from getting to go to a fight. A fight against some Foes like the Stalkers! That kind of fight was just his favorite kind! Dangerous! That and it was something He could claim to have done better then the one they were going to rescue couldn’t! Beat the Stalkers in a fight! Vinnie’s jealousy overriding his concern for the missing Martian.  
“The Warehouse district is crawling with the Police now!” Charley told them. They are all over the beaches, and have helicopters out searching the lake. “She said. “There is no way you could go there now without being spotted by them, and besides, me and Dently looked already.” She sighed. She put her hand on her forehead. “This is all my fault.” She whispered to herself.   
“This Sucks!” Vinnie growled. “The Good Guys can’t do the Good Guy Thing cause the Good Guys are on the Scene!?” He cried. “That makes No Sense!” He Shouted! “Remember Vinnie, we are Aliens!” Throttle said, wobbling his antenna to remind him.” Vinnie just made a oh yeah right shrug. He kind of forgot that.   
“If those Bastards have done anything to my Little Brother, I will, I’ll, I’ll do something My Gray Furred Momma would not be proud of!” Modo yelled, barely able to keep his anger and frustration in check.   
“Calm Down Big Guy, we will do something!” Throttle said stepping up to Modo. He put aside all the childish behavior. He knew when it was time to step up and be the Leader! That time was now. “We need to stay calm and think for a minute.” He said. “Charley, is there anything else you can tell us about what happened, any thing at all?” He asked her.   
Charley looked up at him. She fought back her grief and guilt and tried to think. Tried to recall everything that had happened. She shook her head to try and clear it. Dently pressed up against her, as if he were encouraging her. She smiled down at him again. If it hadn’t been for this silly motorcycle, she didn’t know what would have happened to her. She looked up, she remembered something!  
“Wait, there is something!” She said. “One of the Stalkers said something about an Island, and another had a weird device on its back.” She added. “It looked kind of like one of the Plutarkian Dimensional Warp Portal things!” She said starting to recall the events more clearly.   
“Wait a minute, why would Stalkers be robbing a warehouse?” Vinnie asked. “That aint their thing.” He said trying to figure this out. “Yeah, those monsters are more into collecting trophies then stealing loot.” Modo said also wondering as to what was going on in Chicago. “Hey, and Limburger has an Island out in the Lake, remember, he built his crooked casino on it, remember!” Modo added excitedly.   
Throttle still thinking remembered the casino all right. He had been strapped to a torture device that ran on greed and had nearly been snapped in two, thanks mostly to an unknowing Vinnie. He had been nearly killed thanks to a Slap Head on a Slot Machine. The pieces were starting to fall into place on this puzzle, but a few big pieces were still missing.   
“I bet Limburger is hiding out on that island, and that is why he aint rebuilt his tower, and its probably where he is holding my Little Brother!” Modo snarled. He secretly hoping that Hard Luck was being held there Alive, and not in another condition.   
“I say we surf our way out there and squeeze a few answers out of the fat slimeball!” Vinnie said with an eager smile on his face. It had been almost a half a day since he blew up anything or punched anybody. “But surely Limburger will be expecting this and have some kind of trap waiting for you?!” Charley pointed out. Someone had to toss some common sense into these discussions.  
“That is what makes this so much fun sweetheart!” Vinnie Laughed! Charley just rolled her eyes and mentally waved goodbye to Common Sense as it went flying out the door. “Fun aint on my list of things to do today!” Growled Modo. He said that with so much menace Charley shivered despite the heat.   
“Charley is right. “Throttle said, finally joining the conversation. They all turned to look at him. “He is sure to have some kind of Special Surprise waiting for us, but when has that ever done him any good.” He said with a half-smile. “Is that really smart?” Charley asked. Feeling like she should say something to keep tempers in check.   
“If Limburger is out on that island, then he has made one big mistake, He put himself where there won’t be any Innocent Bystanders to worry about, so we can hit him HARD!” Throttle said and slammed his fist into an open palm of his other paw.   
“What about Hard Luck!?” Charley gasped. Had they forgotten about him already she wondered. “He aint exactly innocent, babe.” Vinnie said with a smirk. “That and it’s a big island, we can make an example of what will happen to Limburger if he has done anything to my Little Brother!” Modo added. He was practically vibrating with pent up rage and motivation to get to the rescue.   
“There aint no reason to put this off any longer!’ Throttle declared! “Its time to Mount Up, Move Out and Rock and RIDE!” He said with a cheer! Modo and Vinnie were right with him! All three made to jump on their bikes! Throttle’s bike was parked outside, and he turned and ran for the big open garage door!  
A Loud Messy Splat exploded out as he ran right into a nearly 6-foot mound of gooey gray mud that had suddenly stepped out in front of him! Throttle and the Mud pile fell backwards into the garage and collided with one of Charley’s heavily laden tool carts. More splats, and crashes rang out as they slipped and slid across the shop floor! Tools, engine parts and mud flying every where and tripping Throttle up even more!   
Throttle and the Mud Thing bashed against the wall of the shop, he slipped and landed tail and bottom first into a couple of old tires sitting on the floor! The Mud Thing sliding off to plop into a gooey mess in front of him by his booted feet.   
Throttle let out a low groan. He had a thick coating of the mud all over his face and front. Suddenly a rack of tires above him broke loose and fell… right on top of Throttle. Thump, thump, thump went the tires! The only parts of him visible now were his legs, paws and his antenna sticking out from the top tire.   
The Mud thing slowly began to rise! Vinnie ran over to confront it, in pure heroic fashion! The Mud Thing Fell and splashed right into him! “OH, Gross!” Vinnie Cried as he jumped back and tried to wipe the thick mud out of his eyes and off his face! The Mud clinging to his mask and snout making it impossible for him to either see or even breathe!  
Modo stepped in front of Charley and put up his left arm to protect her from the thing, he raised his cyborg arm and its cannon popped up, and he aimed it right at the creature! Dently suddenly let out a loud series of Honks and started jumping up and down! Charley looked down at him wondering what he was trying to tell them!?   
Hard Luck wiped a big wad of mud off his face and stood wobblily in front of them. “Hey, what’s going on?” He asked barely managing to keep on his feet.   
“HARD LUCK!” Chorused Charley, Modo, and Vinnie! None of them could believe it. From inside the tires a very tired “of course” from the one mouse that could believe it.   
Modo, fighting off the shock ran over and scooped Hard Luck up in a Massive Modo Sized Hug! “Ha, ha My Little Bro is Ok, Yer OK!” He said squeezing Hard Luck and getting himself coated in the thick gray mud and sending big globs of it flying all over the place due to him swinging Hard Luck back and forth like a rag doll! Hard Luck letting out a squished squeak didn’t fight him.   
Charley made to go and join in but as she stepped forward, she found she couldn’t move! She looked down. Dently’s seatbelt had wrapped around her waist. He wouldn’t let go. Charley looked back at him, but he ignored her and kept a tight hold on her. She looked back at the mud-covered mice.   
“Yeah, Ok I get it.” She said. “I will go get the hose.” She said. Now Dently let her go.   
A few minutes later, after an embarrassing few second of extracting Throttle from the tires, all 4 of the Martians standing up against the rear wall of the Last Chance Garage in the alley, and Charley spraying all the mud off them with a shop hose.  
They were all griping and complaining as Charley ran the powerful jet of water back and forth across them. The Lake Michigan Mud didn’t come off easy. Vinnie was making his normal complaints about having to take baths. Modo was pointing out the spots on Hard Luck she was missing. Modo was in full Overprotective Big Bro mode as He had to hold Hard Luck up to keep him from falling over. Hard Luck was coated in the mud, plus lots of algae, refuse and even a few large and angry crawfish that had been clinging to him with their claws.   
Throttle, who had the 2nd largest covering of mud on him, just kept repeating the same few words. “Every time, every single time.” Charley wasn’t sure what he meant. He had also somehow gotten about 3 of the crawfish attached to himself as well in his collision with Hard Luck. They had bitten onto his tail and his backside. He was silently grateful that Vinnie hadn’t noticed his quiet yelps as he pulled them off himself.   
Charley was grateful, that despite the heat and humidity, she had left her riding leathers on. She hadn’t gotten any of the mud on her, but she was already a wet mess too. Granted the cool water felt good, but she hated to think what her cleaning bill would be to get the leathers cleaned up later.   
Back inside the Last Chance, and toweling off, they were all gathered around the old couch again. Dently was behind the couch, not making a sound, but his camera eye was fully extended and staring very intently at Hard Luck. Hard Luck seated awkwardly on it as Charley sat next to him. Once again finding herself in the process of applying first aid to the Blue Furred Martian. Again. She kept her Medical Merit Badge Joke to herself this time. “Hold still.” She told him. He kept squirming and muttering ouch and ow.   
“What happened to you Little Bro?” Modo looked down at Hard Luck with nothing but worry and concern written all over his big gray face. “How did you get away from the Stalkers?” Hard Luck’s head jerked up and he gave Modo a odd look. “How di, did I…” He started to say then his stuttering stopped him. “I duh, don’t really re, remember.” He said and he dropped his head to stare at his mismatched feet.   
Modo stared down at him. An equally odd look on his face too. He stood up and stared off into space for a second. A stern look took over and he frowned and turned and walked off. He went to a far wall, turned around and leaned back and crossed his arms and stared back at his brother. It was not exactly a happy stare.   
“Well, what is the last thing you can remember?” Charley asked him and put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft, sympathetic smile. Hard Luck looked at the hand, then at Charley, then at Vinnie and Throttle. He didn’t look at Modo. He then looked back down at his feet.   
“The Luh, last thing I, I can re, remember is, is flying thu, threw the auh, air getting wuh, wailed on by the Stuh, Stalkers.” He stuttered. “Then what?” Charley inquired softly. Hard Luck stiffened. “After tha, that I, I was wah, walking up to, to the Garage ah, and getting muh, my head bah, bashed by Thu, Throttle’s huh, head.” He said quietly, still looking down.   
“Well, I am glad, we are all Glad you are back and safe.” Charley said once more squeezing his shoulder and smiling at him. She looked at the Guys with a look that said AGREE WITH ME! Vinnie and Throttle started nodding and saying the same thing. Modo just stayed back by the wall and stared back.   
Throttle moved up and stood next to Vinnie. “Yeah, we’re all glad you are both here and neither of you got really hurt.” Throttle said. Vinnie agreeing with him. They both took a deep breath then in unison they both shouted. “YOU TWO ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!”   
Charley gawked up at them. Her eyes wide open and her cheeks flushing redder then her leathers. “WHAT!?” She yelled back at them. “You should know better by now then to run off and do something as Dumb and as Dangerous as that by now Sweetheart!” Vinnie snapped at her. “That’s right Charley, you just don’t have the experience to do stuff like that especially if you have…” Throttle added in but stopped when He looked down at Hard Luck. “…You should really know better by now!” He ended with.   
Charley’s eyes were on the verge of popping out of her head which was close to boiling point. She could almost understand Throttle, or even Modo saying this to her, but Vinnie? Him telling her to not do something Dangerous!? She looked at Hard Luck. He just gave her a sideways glance that said I told you so. If she hadn’t just bandaged his arm up, she would have punched it. Instead, she just jumped up to her feet.   
“How dare either of you say that to me!” She shouted at them, both Throttle and Vinnie taking a step back. “You act like I have never been in a fight before, or never gotten caught up in one, and you act like you 3 have never gone into one and gotten into trouble?” She said with fire in her eyes. “I did what I did to help You guys, not to try and prove to you that I am capable of handling myself, I thought we had gotten past this Macho Sexist Bullshit of yours by now!” She yelled then stopped to catch her breath.  
Throttle and Vinnie stared back at her, slightly in shock and thinking of how to respond. Hard Luck jumped in albeit a bit more meekly then Charley did. “You know guys, she has a point.” He said softly but firmly. “This is her city, her planet. She has just as much a right to fight for it, even more then you guys do. “He said in what he hoped was a helpful manner. Charley smiled a thank you down at him.   
“SHUT UP HARD LUCK!” Throttle and Vinnie yelled at him. Hard Luck returned his attention to his feet and nervously wiggled his fingers together. “You know it isn’t like that, and that is not what we mean.” Throttle snapped. “It is just that things have been getting more dangerous lately, and you really just don’t have the skills or the experience to go running blindly into these things!” He said then stopping to catch his breath. He wasn’t used to yelling like that. Vinnie stepped up next. “Yeah, Babe, you just can’t go running around doing stupid stuff like that now with some one like…I mean not without Me, I mean Us to Watch Your Back!” He said finishing.   
Charley glared back at them in anger fueled shock. “They do have a point Davidson.” Hard Luck meekly squeaked up again. “They have been thru a lot more training and way more experience with this type of thing, and really all of this is just a very deep concern for you.” He said. “We, they have all luh, lost lots of people wuh, we have cared about, and they don’t want the same to happen to you too.” He said and looked up at her. His left hand squeezing his medallion.   
Charley looked down at him and noticed that. Her face still full of anger, did soften a little. “Shut up Hard Luck.” She said with a soft steel in her voice. Hard Luck looked down. Yep, his feet were still there. Good thing He checked.   
Throttle stepped forward again. “Look Charley. He is right, you are right, and we are right.” He said. “But the fact of the matter is this, you are not going out with us on this one.” He said in a way that meant no arguments would be put up with. He used his full Leader Voice this time. It was a mix of authority and compassion at the same time. Charley had to admit. He was damn good at it.  
“Fine, I won’t say I agree with you, but for now I won’t fight you on this, but I will say I am not happy about it, and this ISN’T the End of this Conversation. She, Throttle, and Vinnie all gave each other deep glares mixed with different emotions. They all turned and looked down at Hard Luck.   
Hard Luck looked up at them, and nervously stared back. “Uh, uh, Shut up Hard Luck!” He said with a silly smile. 3 not finding it happy glares were what he got. “Suh, suh, sorry.” He mumbled. Oh, good his feet are still down there. Maybe he should check to be sure all his toes were still there too.  
“We can have this discussion later, but for now its shelved.” Throttle said. “Now, we gotta get our bikes ready and go check out what Limburger is up to before it’s too late to stop him.” He said with a heavy hint of a lack of enthusiasm. “Come on Vinnie, Modo.” He said and walked off. Vinnie giving Charley an emotionally confused look then turned to follow him. Charley, arms crossed, turned, and walked off in the opposite direction.   
Hard Luck looked up to see if the coast was clear. He let out a deep breath he didn’t know he had been holding in. He turned and looked at Dently. Dently’s camera stared back then lowered down out of site. His engine gave a disgusted cough then fell silent.   
Hard Luck just sighed then got up to go see if there was any grape soda left. He was almost to the refrigerator when Modo stepped up behind him and wrapped his big left arm around his neck and drew him so that his head was held tight against Modo’s breastplate. He looked up at him nervously. Modo glared down at him.   
“Auh, are wuh, we gonna ha, have a, a talk?” He stuttered nervously up at him. Modo shook his mighty head. Hard Luck let out a sigh of relief. Modo poked him in the nose with a big metal finger. “I am going to TALK; you are going to LISTEN!” Modo growled. “Gulp!” Gulped Hard Luck.  
A little while later, everyone was out front of the Last Chance. Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie sitting on their bikes and warming them up for the trip across the Great Lake Michigan. Charley, Hard Luck and Dently were standing in the open garage door.   
Silent glances were exchanged between all of them. Nobody was smiling. “We will be back as soon as we can.” Throttle said grimly. “Yeah, once we get back, we can get things back to the way things are supposed to be. “Vinnie said with a forced grin. Modo just looked directly at Hard Luck straight on with a very intense stare.   
Hard Luck gulped again and turned to look at Charley, who was now back in her regular, and more comfortable work clothes. ‘Duh, don’t wuh, worry!” He said with his hands up in a sign of offering no resistance. “Wuh, we wi. Will be staying rih, right here!” He said with his voice quivering. Charley looked up at him with an amused look. “Ah, ah, and that means Little Muh, Missy that you are staying here where you can keep an eye on…I muh muh, mean tha, that I can kuh, heep an eye on YOU!” He barely managed to get out thru his nervous stuttering getting worse, and him making obvious glances over his shoulder at Modo who was still staring directly at him.   
Throttle, pretending he didn’t notice any of this just let out an annoyed sigh. “Lets… lets just GO!” He snapped, not bothering with their typical fun catch phrase. Throttle, and Vinnie gunned their engines and took off. Modo gave Hard Luck one more good Stare and let out a loud Harumph, with a nod of his head before he took off after them a couple of seconds later.   
Hard Luck’s shoulders drooped as he let out a long held in breath. Glad that that was over. He did a doubletake when he noticed the look Charley was giving him. She had something that was halfway in between a frown and a smile with one eyebrow cocked severely. “Whu, what?” He stammered at her.   
“You Big Wimp!” She snorted at him with a demeaning laugh. “Hey!” He half shouted. “Huh, he, he thu, thu, threatened muh, muh, me!” He garbled at her while pointing after the racing away Bros. Charley, the smile on her face still growing just asked. “Threatened you with WHAT?” She had to hear this.   
Hard Luck, his fuzzy face blushing a very deep red looked away from her. “Huh, huh, He, He….” He stammered trying to tell her. “He thu, thu , threatened to, to tuh, tell… Momma on…me.” He finished with his voice at barely above a squeak.   
Charley couldn’t take it. Tears rolling down her face, she buried her head in her hands, and nearly choked…LAUGHING! “It, it aint fuh, funny.” Hard Luck squeaked not really believing himself. Charley kept laughing. Hard Luck blushed more.   
Charley managed to bring herself under control. Wiping the tears from her eyes she looked at him again. “Oh, Hard Luck, I just can’t decide about you.” She giggled. Giving her a perturbed look. “Decide what?” He asked her. “If you are more adorably pathetic, or pathetically adorable.” She laughed while stepping up and hugging his arm.   
“Ah, that aint the first time I ever…heard…that.” He mumbled embarrassedly. Dently then rolled up and started rubbing against his cyborg leg like a large mechanical puppy. It made a metallic scrunching noise. “Get off me you big dummy, you’re crushing my foot.” He said trying not to laugh. Charley almost started crying again. She needed this laugh.   
Across the street from the Last Chance in a dark alley, the glowing yellow eyes of the fourth Stalker watched them. “Everything is going exactly according to plan.” It growled into a comm unit it held. 

To Be Continued.


	5. Biker Mice From Mars : Slime Mold Dance Ch 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get Itchy and Slimy!

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 5

The choppy waters of Lake Michigan rocked and rolled with huge waves, and white caps. If Lake Michigan weren’t a nearly landlocked body of water and in a warmer climate it could be a Surfer’s Paradise. Sadly, Warm is not a condition these waters ever really got to know on a first name basis.   
The Water-Soaked Trio hydroplaning across them were grateful that Mother Nature supplied them with insulated fur! Something that could not be said for their radios. “This Blows!” Griped Vinnie! He punched his waterlogged radio that was sparking and sputtering pathetically at him. Vinnie always got grouchy when he didn’t have some heavy metal to headbang too while banging heads. Of all the times for his radio to breakdown, all 3 of their radios to be exact. What were the chances!?  
“Simmer down Vinnie!” Chuckled Throttle. “Just cause our radios aren’t working is no reason to get all Burned Up!” He said giving Vinnie a toothy grin while wiggling his own wet tail at him. “Oh, oh are we starting this Again!?” Vinnie snapped! Throttle just kept smiling at him.   
“I am not Mad!” Vinnie growled. “I just really don’t like not having my tunes, man!’ He added. “It messes with my concentration, and I am not MAD!” He snarled, right before a big wave splashed him right in his face. He now regretted not having activated his helmets electro-visor. “Blah!” Gasped Vinnie as he spit out the lake water! Throttle laughed again!  
“Man, no tunes, insults to my awesomeness from my own compadres, and this blasted itching, how can I be expected to be at peak efficiency!?” Vinnie complained as he started scratching vigorously at his neck and chest.   
Throttle stopped smiling and started scratching too. His chest, neck, arms, and face felt like it was crawling. If he didn’t know better, he would think they had gotten an infestation of Deimos Ash Fleas! “I got to side with you there Vinnie, this is not a good time to come down with something, how are you coping Big Guy?” No answer. “Hey, Modo, You still with us!?” Throttle yelled at the Gray Giant riding the waves beside him.   
“Huh, what?” Modo mumbled while he also absentmindedly itched his own neck and left arm. “I need you to get your head in to the game Modo, things will be getting hard and heavy before too long!” Throttle said to him, concern starting to seep into his voice. Something was eating at Modo, and he didn’t mean the itch that was bothering all of them.   
“Something is bothering you Modo, come on, you can talk to us about it, you know that.” Throttle said to him. “Yeah, Modo-ster, you gotta let whatever is bothering you out before it eats you up, before this blasted itch does!” Vinnie said in what he hoped was his best buddy bro mode voice, before once again scratching his own itch.   
“Ah, its nothing, nothing that concerns us, its, it’s just personal that’s all.” Modo said with a dark gleam in his single eye. Modo shook his large head a few times as if to knock his problems out and scratching a few more times. “So, how far are we from the Big Cheese’s Island Hideaway?” He asked trying to sound more like his big loveable self.   
“Not much further now, just about another couple dozen waves or so.” Throttle said, feeling better now that the 3 of them seem to be getting their acts together. All their nerves had been pretty stretched the last few days. A good beating getting laid down on Limburger should help give them some much needed downtime. Even a Freedom Fighter needs some Free Time now and again.   
Vinnie was one that could whole-heartedly agree with that sentiment! “Next Stop King Pong Island!” (note Pong as in Bad Smell) He shouted and gunned his bike’s engine and used a large wave in front of him like a ramp to go shooting up into the cloudy night sky! He did a big circle before diving back down like a red tracer bullet!  
He hit the water like a missile, sending an explosion of dark green, and gray water splashing all over Modo, and Throttle! They both let out a few complaints about their reckless cohort while wishing the water would wash off whatever was causing the itching. Vinnie surfaced in another eruption of water like a geyser between them, nearly capsizing them both. To which they both complained about getting wetter, the itch, and their maniac mouse protagonist!  
“Ah, ha, ha!” Vinnie bellowed! “This itch is starting to drive me crazy!” He gasped! “I am starting to love it!” He added smiling insanely. He stretched and twisted like he was going to burst apart! “I think we may have found something that can take care of that scratch for you, and us!’ Throttle said while pointing at something ahead of them. “Whoa Momma!” Modo Gasped.   
Throttle just bit his tongue because he was being made to eat his own words. He had said earlier that since Limburger had relocated to an isolated island, they didn’t have to worry about damaging or hurting any Citizens or their property. Unfortunately for them, it appeared Limburger had realized the same thing!   
Limburger’s Island was a Weapon Armed Fortress! In addition to the traditional Tower, it was surrounded by high metal walls, which had all kinds of mounted lasers, grenade, and missile launchers ringing the top of it! All of which was now swiveling to aim at them! Even along the beach there were the old giant Karbunkle Mouse Traps set up in the sand. Even a horde of fresh, and heavily armed Goons in just as armored and armed battle buggies!   
On the other side of the Island was a machine, nearly as big as the Tower itself. It was churning out what looked like steam. It was filling the sky with it. Just another piece to add to the mystery puzzle they were trying to figure out.   
“That is a Lot of firepower!” Modo said. He was kinda impressed! “Limburger must have gone into hock big time to afford all that! Throttle growled out. “Oh, this just keeps getting better and better!” Vinnie laughed! Throttle and Modo almost laughed. Vinnie’s ability to enjoy imminent destruction was a trait they could almost appreciate.   
Throttle had an even bigger issue on his mind then Vinnie’s berserk behavior tendencies. “Why haven’t they blown us out of the water yet? He wondered out loud. “Yeah, we are like rubber duckies in a bucket out here!” Modo growled. “Old Stinkface is just a party pooper!” Vinnie yelled. “Let me be the one to get things ROCKING!” He said in an almost insensible manner! “VINNIE, NO!” Throttle started to stop him, but it was too late!  
Two missiles flew away from Vinnie’s bike straight toward the Goon Infested Beach! A dozen Goons ran like the craven cowards they were, two Goons just managing to jump out of their buggies just before the missiles hit them! The beach blossomed into a massive fireball! “…don’t.” Sighed Throttle. He has got to have a talk with this youngster and his self-control someday if they live that long.   
“Ha, take that ya smelly bottom feeder!” Vinnie yelled at the Island. “What?” He followed it up with as he noticed the two ugly glares being shot at him from Throttle, and Modo. Throttle was tempted to make another tail burn joke at him, but he had bigger concerns right now. He would save it for later if they got a later.   
“Why aren’t they shooting us full of more holes then Swiss Cheese?” Modo asked. “I was wondering pretty much the same thing Big Guy!” Throttle replied to him. Vinnie bobbed there in the water wondering why they were just doing that and not leveling the island.   
“Ah, my dear revolting rodents, I should imagine you are wondering why I have not had you immediately incinerated at this very moment.” Limburgers voice thundered out from a series of Loudspeakers on the island.   
“Why don’t you come down here and tell us to our faces you crap filled catfish!” Vinnie shouted at the island while threatening it by shaking his balled-up fist. “Throttle looked at him. “Hey, Vinnie!” He said to him. “Yeah?” Vinnie questioned back. “SHUT UP!” Throttle yelled at him. Vinnie slightly ducked down behind his bike’s handlebars.   
“I will tell you.” Limburger said in his thunderous voice. “It has to do with all those meaningless missions you have been chasing my useless underlings all across the city for the last few days.” Limburger chortled at them. “None of those materials were ever my actual objective, those were just as you my Large Singular Armed Companion said to me the other day, it has all been a DISTRACTION!” Limburger said with a malevolent belly laugh.   
Vinnie and Throttle turned and looked at Modo, who simply looked back at them with his most innocent expression. He wasn’t going to take any part in this mess! “While you all were busy Wasting your time and energy chasing that Fool Greasepit around Chicago, my New Associates, whom I am sure you are now quite aware of, were obtaining everything I needed to set up the Perfect Stage for a Surprise Performance to take place in the entirety of Chicago!” He said with pure hate filled glee dripping from his voice.   
Throttle’s started to fill ill. He was getting that feeling that he had been played like a fool again. He really hated that feeling. Suddenly the large machine on the other side of the Island intensified its activity. The cloud it was generating thickened and increased its speed towards the city far behind them. It also started to rain.   
“Oh, this is the announcement that the Show will be starting Very Soon!” Limburger proclaimed. “As the specially treated rain falls on Chicago, the Curtain will Rise thus beginning the Fall of the City!” He chortled. “So, you my most hated of hostiles, have this choice to make.” He said with a sneer in his voice. “Stay here and commence in a pointless battle with me or flee and attempt to save the now Doomed Denizens of Chicago, the choice is yours, but I suggest You don’t ponder the problem for too long!” He yelled and once again began guffawing like a monster!   
Throttle looked back over his shoulder. The Huge Cloud was growing on the horizon. The city lights could be seen reflecting off the bottom of the raincloud as waves of precipitation could be seen to start to fall. Throttle bit into his cheek again. “Get back to Chy Town, Now!” Throttle ordered. He and Modo turned and fired their engines for all they were worth and shot away across the choppy waters. Vinnie, his head bouncing back and forth from his departing bros and the Island full of Bad Guys just begging to get Beaten up and Blasted looked back at them. “CHEESE!” He cursed and turned is bike and took off after his bro’s. He hated running from a fight. He need not worry. He was going to find a fight back in Chicago he would never forget.   
Watching the Biker Mice turn tail and sail away at speed thru a powerful set of electronic binoculars Limburger couldn’t help but laugh with malicious mirth. “That’s right, you vile vermin, turn tail and run, right to your well-deserved demise!” He laughed to himself. “Why did you not destroy them now?” The Dark Red Leader of the Stalkers growled at Limburger.   
The Plutarkian Plunderer turned to him with a sigh. He so hated having to explain his genius to the underlings. “I didn’t free you from that Martian Prison just so you could question my orders.” He snapped at the Stalker Leader. It didn’t back down, but it did lower its head and silently growl under its breath. It wasn’t sure how much more of this it could take. “But, seeing as how you have completed all of your tasks with such exemplary proficiency, a most welcome change of events I can assure you.” Limburger said laying on the slimy charm at his disposal. “I will tell you this.” He said with a sickening smile. “The reason I did not destroy them now was because that would be Sparing them from a Far Worse Fate that now awaits them In the City!” Limburger told them with an evil twinkle in his eyes.   
“Now, my dear animalistic associates, you will continue to follow my orders if you ever want to see your freedom again.” He said to the Stalkers in the room with a cruel frown. “Incase you have managed to forget, I am your only way off this pathetic world, so I suggest you go out and continue to preform your duties with your so far perfect performance.” He glared at the Stalkers. The Stalkers slowly turned to look at each other in turn before silently turning and walking out of the office. Limburger didn’t even bother to watch them leave. He just turned to look out the window towards the City on the Coast. He watched the storm grow over the city. The thought of the storm building UNDER the city brought an even bigger smile to his ugly face. A Storm those Mice would Never Forget for as Long as they Lived. As short as that would be, he thought to himself with malevolent cheer.   
“Hard Luck, I thought you were doing something about all these leaks!?” Charley yelled out as she tried to keep herself and the delicate electronic instruments dry as she tried to fix them. She wasn’t doing an exceptionally good job. Delicate Electronics that were in danger of being seriously soaked as streams of water poured in from the roof of the Leaky Last Chance Garage’s roof. She had been trying to repair the special CB radio for over an hour. She did not need this. “Hard Luck!” She yelled out again.  
“We’re working on it; we’re working on it!” Hard Luck yelled back from somewhere above her. He was up on the roof trying to fill in the multitude of cracks with some special roofing tar that Charley had made, but never found the time to use. She looked up at the ceiling again. She could hear him clomping around up there. “My poor garage.” She moaned.  
“Hey, Dently!” Hard Luck yelled down at his motorcycle, who was helping him. “Get that other barrel of that goop up here now!” He yelled down. Charley heard Dently’s reply. A chaotic rumple of engine noises and clanking metal parts. Somehow those two could communicate, but she had no idea how either of them could understand each other. “I don’t care how, just get it up here!” Hard Luck yelled out. Another clatter of noises from Dently. “Yes, Right NOW!” Hard Luck yelled again. A few seconds of silence. A bad feeling suddenly came over Charley. “No, No, NO Not Like that!” Hard Luck yelled out but was drowned out by a loud WHOOSH of an explosion of movement!   
A loud series of crashes thundered down from the roof! Mixed in with them were a bunch of Ouch, yeow, and argh’s! Next came the sound of shattering glass, followed by more crashes and cries of surprise and pain! From the ladder leading up to Charley’s Apartment Loft came an avalanche of debris down the ladder to crash at the foot of it! “Ahh!” Cried Charley as she was knocked off the stool, she was setting on to land with a splash in a puddle next to the work bench. “Ow.” She groaned.   
“What did I do to deserve this?” Charley asked herself as she pulled her now sore and wet backside up out of the puddle. She looked at the CB on the workbench, and the 2 new streams of water pouring into the electronics. She ran over to the moaning pile at the bottom of the ladder that was being soaked by the waterfall cascading down it. “If He isn’t dead, I’ll kill him.” Charley snarled as she ran over to the moaning pile by the ladder.   
The Pile of debris moaned and tried to set up. “Duh, did we fix the leaks?” Hard Luck mumbled thru a haze of pain and the Tar bucket on his head. He was wrapped in a ripped to shreds tarp, and a just as ripped borrowed raincoat. He was also covered in broken glass and bits of wood and the old rug Charley used in her apartment. He was also being drenched by the water pouring down.   
Charley couldn’t help but look down at the pathetic example of Martian in front of her and laugh. “Close but not quite.” She said smiling sadly as she tried to clear the mess off him. Charley pulled the tar bucket off his head with a squelching noise. She wiped some of the mess away from his eyes and mouth. He spit out some which splattered all over her shirt. She glared at the new stains and then at him. “Cough, cough, eww, yuck.” He muttered.   
“Handyman Hank you are not.” Charley said jokingly as she pulled him up on his feet and then handed him an old shop towel. At that moment, Dently came roaring into the garage. He was letting out a clatter of noises as he rolled up. Hard Luck pulled the messy towel off his head and glared down at Dently. “You tin-plated Twerp, I told you not to do that!” He snapped at him. Dently just rattled back at him. “I did not!” Hard Luck shot back!   
Charley stepped in before a full-blown argument could start. “Knock it off Children before I send you both to your rooms with out supper!” She yelled at them. They both snapped to attention and shut their yaps. “Don’t either of you make a noise or move from this spot until I get back, Do You Understand Me?!” She said to them in her most stern voice. They both wisely kept their respective noise makers quiet and nodded at her.   
She nodded at them and pointed at them with her finger and stared at them then climbed the ladder to her loft. She sighed, thinking to herself that she was glad her mom didn’t see her do that. She would be proud and never let her hear the end of it. Hard Luck watched her climb up into her loft, a small lopsided grin crossing his face.   
“Yeeowch!” He cried out and grabbed his backside with both paws. He turned andlooked at Dently, who was holding a nail in his mechanical manipulator, a nail that he pulled out of said backside. “Thu, thanks.” He said quietly with a grimace. Dently wagged his tail fender happily.   
The waterfall splashing down the ladder suddenly slowed to a drip then stopped. Charley climbed back down. “There, I never thought I would find a use for that oversized beach umbrella. “She sighed to herself. “You may speak now.” She turned and said to them.   
“Suh, sorry chu, chah, chuk…Davidson.” Hard Luck managed to spit out. Dently just quivered. “It’s all right, I forgive you both.” She sighed and looked at the last Chance. “Oh, my poor garage.” She said and looked around. The multitude of leaks from her ceiling, the cracks, and chips out of the walls and floor. She wasn’t sure how much more her poor old building could survive the Destruction Duo.   
She walked over and looked out the open garage door. The rain was pouring down and showing no signs of slowing down. “If this keeps up, we are going to need an Ark.” She said as she watched the water in the street flow bye like a river. “You’d think the rain would have cut back on the humidity, and heat.” She said. “I take it this isn’t your planet’s normal seasonal activity?” Hard Luck asked as he walked over, while rubbing his butt, and itching his side slightly.   
“For Chicago, no, maybe the Amazon but not the Jewel of the Midwest. “She said with a gasp. If this keeps up, she will need to grow some gills. Suddenly out in the street, geysers of water began erupting up from the storm drains! The Water was starting to back up out of the sewers! “Oh, that is not good!” Charley gasped. Hard Luck and Dently looked at each other with their own odd looks.   
“Land Ahoy, ya waterlogged land lubbers!” Modo cried out. “Oh, I bet you have been dying to say something like that for hours, huh Captain Patch?!” Vinnie laughed. “Yar.” Modo replied with a lopsided grin. “Can the comedy you Poop-deck Poltroons!” Throttle said with a chuckle as they hit the east side beaches of Chicago. They retracted their bikes hydroplanes and reverted to good old tires.   
“Ha, ha, Lubbers back on rubber!” Vinnie joked as they tore across the beach. They hit the curb and jumped up over the sidewalks and then burned rubber down the road. “Guh, what say we stop off at the nearest Pet Store and grab some Industrial Strength Shampoo for Fur, this itch is driving me Crazy!” Modo griped as he dug into his hide with his metal fingers.  
“Heads on the Job, Bros.” Throttle yelled out. “We gotta figure out what Limburger has planned before it tears Chicago to the ground. “He added while he also scratched away. “I dunno, Large and In Charge Leader Oh Mine, but other then getting a good soaking, I don’t see any Major Scary Activity going on?!” Vinnie pointed out as they drove down the waterlogged streets.   
Throttle looked around and had to agree with His Aggressive Associate. Other then Chicago starting to look like Venice, not much else appeared to be happening. For a plot to destroy the city, this one was not ranking all that high on the Limburger Deviltry Scale.   
“Could that overstuffed stink ball have been pulling our tails, and what he is really up to is back on the island?” Modo asked. “Oh, that better not be the case, cause I am gonna be really steamed if I have to surf all the way back out there!” Vinnie complained while increasing his itching. Scratching his left shoulder Throttle tried to think about it but this blasted itching was starting to make it hard to think!   
Before he could reply all three of them were nearly knocked off their bikes by a series of explosions going off all around them. “WHOA!” All 3 of them yelled as they spun their bikes around to slam to a stop! The rain quickly pounded the dust and smoke surrounding them into the ground.   
“Greetings Pests, remember us?” The Stalker Leader snarled down at the Mice. All 4 of the hunters were hovering above them on their oddly humming anti-gravity disks, and they were all armed to the max.   
“Yes!” Vinnie cheered! “I have been itching for another rematch with these B-Movie Rejects!” and he hopped the nose of his bike up and fired all its laser cannons! The Stalkers dodged his blast at the last instant, making it look all to easy. “You Nephew Hunting Jerks are gonna pay for working for the Big Cheese!” Modo growled and unleased a barrage from his Arm Cannon! He fumed at the memory of the Stalkers using his nephew Rimfire as bait to hunt Him!   
The Stalkers dived and swerved out of the way of his blasts, sadly the buildings behind them couldn’t do the same! Vinnie and Modo’s blasts blew chunks out of the thankfully empty buildings! The Debris splashing down onto the empty streets! The Chy Town Citizens could handle a Strong Wind but an Ocean on their streets was a new experience for them, so most were trying to stay high and dry indoors!   
“Hold Your Fire!” Throttle shouted out! Modo, and Vinnie (exercising a great amount of self-control) reigned in their attack. “We can’t take on these goobers here, there is way too much Citizen Collateral Damage to worry about!’ He pointed out!   
“What should we do, try to get them to chase us back out onto the lake?” Modo asked, tossing out a suggestion. Vinnie didn’t say anything, he was busy trying to spot the elusive baddies. They had in their typically annoying fashion, disappeared into the shadows of the city.   
Throttle was about to give it a try when a row of parked cars off to one side suddenly Exploded like a row of big firecrackers! The Bro’s only saved by their extra keen Martian reflexes and highly tuned superbikes, leaped out of the way!  
Vinnie quickly reached behind himself and grabbed his tail. He let out a sigh of relief. There was a small silver lining to this heavy rain. His tail was to wet to catch fire. Also, he hoped Throttle was too preoccupied to notice that he had checked.   
Luckily for Vinnie, Throttle did appear to be rather preoccupied. Occupied by the Stalker Leader drifting down out of the heavy rain on his anti-gravity disk. It smiled cruelly down at them and slowly backed away from them, then almost casually pointed its energy caster at a Bus stop with a couple of drenched Citizens seeking shelter in it from both the rain and the battle. It let loose two shots on to either side of the Bus Stop! It was rocked by Big Fiery Explosions! The Couple in the Bus Stop screamed and grabbed each other!   
“No! Yelled out Throttle and charged his big black bike in front of the Bus Stop! Placing himself right in the line of fire. The Stalker Leader’s smile grew a few notches and it simply zipped away down the street to be joined by its fellows.  
Vinnie and Modo raced over to join Throttle. “Well, it looks like our plan to lure them away aint going to be happening. “Modo grumbled. “Looks like we are going to have to follow their game play for now.” Throttle snarled. Then I say we get on their tails so tight that they don’t get the chance to blow their noses much less their blasters! Vinnie chimed in and revved his powerful engine! Throttle just nodded and peeled away from the very thankful couple in the Bus Stop, Modo and Vinnie did the same. The Citizens didn’t even mind the wave of water that knocked them off their feet. The Mice roared away, chasing the Stalkers deeper into the city.   
Intent on following the Stalkers, the Mice completely missed the hungry hisses coming from the rapidly filling drains located on the street curbs. Hollow, empty yellow eyes stared out and followed the Mice as they roared away.  
That Ark joke was quickly becoming not funny Charley thought as she watched the water continue to rise outside the Last Chance. “If this rain doesn’t let up soon, I will have to learn how to work on boats and submarines.” Charley moaned. Hard Luck and Dently were futilely doing their best to stop the water from flowing into the Last Chance. They were scooping up the water in buckets and tossing it back out the door, just to have it run back in.   
“Will you two just give up.” She said to them with a sigh. Doing as he was told, Dently let go of his bucket, dropping the still full, and heavy container onto Hard Luck’s fur, and bone foot. “Ouch!” He yelled before tripping on the bucket and falling into the water in front of the garage, sending a big wave of water to splash all over Charley.   
Charley snapped. “My God!” She yelled. “You two morons are more trouble then you are worth!” She took a breath, Hard Luck and Dently looked up at her. “You have caused me nothing but misery since you got dumped into my lap!” She continued. Hard Luck looked past her. “Uh, Davidson.” He mumbled, but she ignored him and kept shouting at them.   
“You Morons have done more to destroy my poor garage in a month then Limburger has in 3 years! She continued, now both Dently and Hard Luck were looking behind her. “un, duh, Davidson, you really need to..” Hard Luck tried to interject but with the same result.   
“I don’t know how I am going to pay for all this, plus now I got 4 mouths to feed, and an extra High-Tech Pain in the butt to maintain, I swear I am going to have to get another loan!” She showed no signs of slowing down.   
“DAVIDSON BEHIND YOU!” Hard Luck yelled out while jumping up and grabbing her, while Dently scooped them both up and carried them away from the garage doors! Charley then turned and saw the 6 large THINGS rising out of the raging water on the street! The Things looked like they were made from slime and fungus, which is exactly what they were made of!   
The Things oozed their way into the garage, suddenly slimy tentacles burst from the things, and multiple empty yellow eyes opened near the tops, followed by large sucking mouths. They started grabbing almost blindly at everything around them and shoving whatever they grabbed into their slobbering mouths! They sucked on tools and engine parts for a few seconds before spitting them out and reaching for something else. Everything they touched sizzled and smoked encrusted with green slime.   
Huddled on top of Dently, both Charley and Hard Luck stared at the Things invading the last Chance! “What are those things!?” Charley yelled! “Don’t just sit there, BLAST EM!” Hard Luck shouted at Dently! Doing as he was told. Blasters popped out of his sides and He opened fire on the monsters, pelting them with lasers!  
The Lasers burned big holes in the creatures, which simply bubbled, oozed closed, so all Dently really did was get the things attention! The Things turned as one. Dropping the non-edible metal parts and moved towards the more digestible things in the garage!   
“Oh, this is bad, this is really bad!” Hard Luck gasped! Charley just watched in horror as the things eyed them greedily! A couple of the things noticed the always stocked Hot Dog Cart that was a common sight in the garage. The things started shoving the uncooked hot dogs and buns into their mouths, where the food dissolved and was absorbed.   
The other four seemed to sniff the air, and then looked directly at Hard Luck. They started making horrible sucking noises and moved towards him. “Uh oh” He groaned. Tentacles reached out for him! Thinking quick, he tossed Charley up into the air! She let out a surprised gasp and landed halfway up the ladder to her loft!   
Suddenly, Dently’s seat popped up, and ejected (threw) Hard Luck across the garage, a hair of a second before the tentacles from one creature wrapped around Dently! IT fell on top of him and tried to shove him whole into its big mouth! Dently let out a loud panic filled chorus of noises!  
Hard Luck picked himself up off the waterlogged floor, just in time to leap out of the way of a plethora of tentacles slapping against the wet concrete where he had landed. The 3 things quickly slimed their way obsessively after him! Their tentacles slashing almost uncontrollably around! Whatever they touched was left smoking and sizzling! Hard Luck did not fail to notice this, especially after one of the tentacles brushed his tail. “OWW!” He yelled, jumped towards the garage's ceiling like a scalded kangaroo!   
The 3 things stopped under him and reached their tentacles up towards him! “Oh, I am so Fondued!” He groaned. Charley was thinking the same thing as the creature underneath the ladder she was holding onto for dear life. The creature was trying to pull it down, Charley was barely holding on! The Creatures tentacles slithered up slowly dissolving the wood. Charley looked down and wished she hadn’t. Right beneath her, the creature’s large mouth was wide open, ready to suck her in! Hard Luck and Charley both screamed their lungs out!

To Be Continued…


	6. Biker Mice from Mars : Slime Mold Dance Ch 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse..some how...

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 6.

The walls of the Last Chance Garage literally shook from the hungry roars of the slime creatures as they tried to devour both Charley and Hard Luck! Charley and Hard Luck were hanging just out of the reach of the burning tentacles of the ravenous creatures below them! 

Hard Luck was dangling from the thick chains attached to the pullies mounted on the metal beams attached to the ceiling used to move engines and other heavy equipment in the garage. Right now, he was praying it would hold him up! The more he squirmed and jerked around, trying to keep his tail out of the creature’s grasp, the more it excited the monsters and the harder they tried to grab him! 

Charley was in a more dire predicament then Him! She was trying not to get tossed off the ladder leading up to her Loft Apartment above the garage! The Beast that was trying to consume her had its tentacles wrapped around the wooden ladder and was shaking it back and forth! The ladder was breaking apart and the beast was swallowing the pieces as they fell off, bringing Charley that much closer to falling to the same fate! 

Suddenly, the Monster ripped the ladder free from its supports connecting it to the ceiling! It shoved the ladder into its slobbering maw! Charley at the last possible instant got her hands on the ledge of the access to her apartment! She dug her fingernails in and tried with all her strength to pull herself up to safety!

Charley let out a shocked gasp! She felt a vicious tug as the monster wrapped a tendril around her right boot! She almost lost her grip and fell, but she managed to hang on, barely! She could feel the tendril slowly climb up from her boot to her pant leg, she could already smell the leather boot and denim of her pants starting to smoke as the corrosive tendril took hold! The creature grew more excited at the notion of being able to consume her and started shaking! 

Thinking fast, Charley did the only thing she could think of! She reached down with one hand, leaving her hanging by just the other hand, she undid her belt around her waist and then kicked off her other boot, which fell right into the monsters slobbering mouth, and she slid out of her other boot and pants, and she shot up thru the hole into her apartment and safety!   
The Creature shoved the clothing into its horrible mouth and smacked and slurped as it consumed the material. Thinking it had gotten its prey, it turned and blindly looked for more! Sensing its fellows gathered under Hard Luck it slithered its way over to join them. “Oh great.” Whimpered Hard Luck. 

Charley’s head popped down from the opening and took in the situation in the garage below her. 4 out of the 6 beasts were gathered under Hard Luck. One was bloated as it tried to digest Dently who had been swallowed whole! It had moved over and was already hungrily rooting thru the garage trash cans looking for more to eat. It seemed to be extremely excited by something in them. The last one was still by the snack cart, but it had nearly eaten everything on it, including the napkins and paper plates! 

“Hang on Hard Luck, Hang On!” Charley shouted at him! Hard Luck gave her a look but was stopped from replying with something very sarcastic when one of the creatures slapped a tendril across his butt, He bit his lip as it left a burning welt! “Errgh!’ He snarled as he bit back the pain! The Creatures below him seemed to have learned how to stretch their tentacle’s and were slowly closing the gap between them! 

Charley looked down and thought fast, trying to think of anything she could do to help him, but she wasn’t having much luck! She almost felt like being sick at the thought of those Monsters getting a hold of the Martian on her ceiling!   
Suddenly the Monster by the snack cart let out a pain filled bellow! It backed away from the cart and slashed at its oozing face! Charley noticed this and looked closer, wondering what happened to it! The Creature was trying to wipe something off itself! It had big blotches of Mustard and Ketchup on itself, and it really didn’t seem to like it. Not at All! In fact, it seemed to be causing it a lot of pain! 

“Ketchup and Mustard?” Charley said to herself. “It doesn’t like them, what’s in them that could do that?” She thought. A thought came to her mind as she remembered something about the condiments! “Hang in there Hard Luck, I am going to try something!” She yelled out and disappeared into her apartment. “Take your time!” Hard Luck yelled out, his voice dripping with sarcasm! “Ouch!” he got another swat from below. 

“Hey, You big Slimeballs!” Charley yelled out! She leaned down and waved her arm around trying to get the attention of the monsters! The one by the snack cart heard her and moved over under her and started to reach up for her! Just what she wanted.   
“Try some of this! She yelled down at it and she poured something out from a big bottle right into its big open mouth! The Creature gulped at it blindly at first, but then it suddenly stopped, and it started to bellow in pain! It raged as its body started to smoke and melt as the liquid ate into its body! It roared a few times, it’s cries getting more pitiful after the other until the creature suddenly dissolved into a bubbling, steaming puddle. 

“Yes!” Charley cheered and she then lowered herself down from her apartment, with a large beach towel wrapped around her lower half and holding a big bottle in her hand. She snuck up on the creatures that were obsessively trying to get Hard Luck!   
“hey, over here!” She yelled at them, while jumping up and down to get their attention, keeping one hand on her towel to keep it from falling, and holding the big bottle in the other. A couple of the creatures turned and looked at her blindly and sniffed the air, before ignoring her and turning back to try and reach the dangling Martian above them.   
Charley gave them a look. “Oh, ignore me will you!” She said and then took the cap off the bottle she was holding and then splashed it all over the beasts! They noticed her then! All 4 of the Monsters started screaming and smoking just like the one Charley had taken care of already! The Monsters thrashed and slammed into each other, smoking, and dissolving as Charley kept tossing the liquid on them until nothing was left but a big green bubbling puddle.   
\  
Hard Luck dropped down from the ceiling. He took special care to land on his cyborg foot, not wanting to take the chance with his flesh and fur foot. He awkwardly hopped out of the puddle and over to Charley! “What is that stuff, some kind of super acid!?” He asked her hurriedly. “No, its…” she started to say before Hard Luck snatched the bottle away from her and ran over to the Monster with Dently inside it! 

Hard Luck emptied its contents all over the thing, which roared and it too dissolved, leaving Dently to fall over in the puddle, his metal chassis still slightly smoking, splashing some of the ooze onto Hard Luck and almost on Charley! “Watch It!” She yelled out, while jumping back, almost dropping her towel!   
“Dently, are you ok, say something to me!” Hard Luck yelled and fell to his knees into the puddle, paying the goo no attention while he checked on his motorcycle friend. Charley ran over to stand next to the puddle, being careful not to step in it with just her sock covered feet. Dently’s Camera eye shook back and forth, flinging more of the goo around, mostly all-over Hard Luck. Dently then let out a round of his rattling engine and motor parts noises. A big smile grew on Hard Luck’s furry face and he grabbed Dently in a big hug, getting even more of the goo all over him! 

“Hard Luck, get out of that stuff!” Charley yelled out. Hard Luck looked up at her then realized what she was on about. He jumped up, Dently falling back over with a splash, and he aggressively tried to wipe the stuff off, he stopped and looked down at himself. “Hey, this stuff don’t burn no more!” He said. “Lucky for you.” Charley said, feeling relieved seeing as how Hard Luck only succeeded in smearing the green slime all over himself.   
“What is that stuff?” Hard Luck asked again, pointing at the empty bottle on the floor. He turned and once again pulled Dently up to a standing position. His tires and seat cushions were gone. In their place were just his metal tire rims and metal supports on his chair. 

Charley picked up the bottle and held it upside down. Nothing came out. “It Was Vinegar.” She said. “Those things really didn’t like it.” She smiled. “Yea the Slime Mold… I mean, yeah, thu, those thi, Things really don’t” He stuttered with a nervous smile. Charley tossed the empty bottle into a trashcan and looked around her messy garage with a frown.   
She looked out the garage door. The rain hadn’t let up at all. She watched the rain and flooding still raising outside. She heard a noise and looked. Down the street a long line of the Slime Creatures was marching in a big mob! “Oh my god!” she gasped her hands flying to her face. “There is a whole army of those things out there!” She said, not wanting to believe what she just saw. She could hear cars honking, and people yelling and screaming mixed with police and fire emergency sirens off in the distance.   
“We have got to do something before those things destroy the city!” She yelled. “We gotta find the Guys!” She added. “Uh, Davidson.” Hard Luck said while he turned his head and put his right gloved paw over his eyes. Dently too turned his camera eye completely around to look in the opposite direction.   
“We’ve got to tell them we found a way to stop those things before its too late!” She said almost hopping up and down with concern! “Uh, Davidson!” Hard Luck said a bit more loudly! “But first we have to figure out how to get out there and not get eaten by a horde of those things!” Charley said trying to calm herself down so she could think. “DAVIDSON!” Hard Luck Yelled! 

“What is it!” Charley turned to him, frustration showing on her face. “You might want to put on some pants before we rush out there.” He said meekly while pointing at her feet. Charley’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she looked down. Her towel had fallen around her feet. “Ahh!” She gasped as she grabbed the hem of her work shirt and tugged it down.   
“Don’t look, you big blue pervert!” She yelled as she ran into the garage to find a way of getting up to her apartment. She was also extremely grateful that Vinnie wasn’t here right now. “Hey!” He said still holding his paw over his eyes. “If I was a pervert, I wouldn’t have told you!” Dently made a rumbling noise followed by a blast of his exhaust. “I did not Peek!” Hard Luck yelled at him! Dently rattled another reply that was filled with mock disbelief. “Yeah, well you are one to talk, running around with no tires on!” Hard Luck said with a smirk. 

Dently’s Camera spun around as he hopped about making an angry racket. Hard Luck smiled, enjoying the small verbal jousting victory over Dently. It didn’t’ happen that way very often, so he took what he could get. He turned and looked out the window. The smile was replaced by a sad, weary frown. The chaos out in the storm was getting louder. He sighed. It was going to be a long night. 

The streets of Chicago were filled with panicking citizens running from the Slime Monsters that were rampaging across the city! The radio and TV emergency services were telling people to either evacuate the city however they could or seek shelter inside and to barricade themselves in and protect themselves in whatever way they could! The Police and even the Fire Departments of the city were fighting the monsters as best they could, but neither guns nor fire hoses set on full blast could slow the creatures down!   
The Biker Mice were having the same luck as the city’s human defenders. All Bad! “This is really starting to not be fun!” Growled Vinnie as he blasted away at a group of about 20 of the creatures who were busy trying to eat a Food Truck and its owner that had gotten stuck in the flooding street! Vinnie’s lasers had almost harmlessly passed thru the monsters and the only thing he had done was draw their attention to him! That and his itching kept on getting worse! The Food Truck Owner looked on gratefully as the Slime Monsters moved away from her as they moved toward her white furry rescuer.

Modo, just as tired and frustrated as Vinnie couldn’t hold a smile back. Vinnie had just saved an attractive citizen of the female persuasion and he hadn’t made a dumb flirty remark to her. Things must be bad He thought. “I hear you Vinnie, but don’t give up now!” Modo called out blasting away with his arm cannon, but even its powerful plasma did little to dissuade the monsters! The Monsters seemed to even like it! The blasts just seemed to get absorbed into them! He was just as distracted by the itching as Vinnie, but he refused to let it slow him down!  
Throttle was suffering from the itch worse than either of his two partners. He shook his head vainly trying to clear it. His itching was so bad he literally couldn’t see straight! His bike was having to do most of his navigating! His chest and arms felt like they were on fire, but as bad as it was, he wouldn’t let himself give up!   
This night just keeps getting worse! They had chased the Stalkers into the center of town, but then they just vanished, only for the bros to run right into a horde of the slime monsters! The more they fought them the more of them seemed to show up to chase them! It was almost as if the monsters were drawn to them! Throttle didn’t fail to notice this, so he tried to take advantage of it. Better the monsters chase them then the helpless citizens of Chicago! 

“Keep up the, ugh, the attack, rgh, the attack, it seems to draw these freaks to us!” Throttle grunted. The Itching had spread to his face and was still getting worse! “You, you don’t’ sound so good Throttle!” Vinnie said, with almost uncharacteristic concern showing in his voice. This almost shocked Modo enough to forget his own discomfort! “If you need to take a break Throttle, we can..” He started to say before Throttle cut him off. “Nuh, NO!” He shouted. “I, I can, I have to deal with it!” He pushed out. He just wished he could believe that himself. 

Things were bad. No matter what tactic or play they tried to pull, it had no effect on the creatures! They either just flat out ignored it or just swarmed around or thru the attack, and more and more of the things kept showing up! The Guys were slowly being pushed into a corner! “Activate your hydroplanes and circle left!” Throttle shouted out! The guys did as he said! The blades extended from their bike’s wheels and they tore across the deep water on the street, causing a big wave to go flowing down it, pushing the monsters temporarily away from them! The maneuver gave them a few minutes breathing room that they desperately needed. 

They raced around a corner and into a flooding little park. It looked more like a swamp! They took refuge from the rain under a roofed picnic site. All three of them nearly collapsed into fits of itching! ‘Ah, what is causing this!” Vinnie growled as he scratched at himself like a maniac. Modo, for once grateful for his metal fingers, dug away at his irritated skin. “I don’t know but I am starting to wish I was made entirely of metal!” He grumbled tiredly. 

Throttle ripped his helmet off his head and collapsed on to his handlebars. He breathed deeply and scratched away at himself. Modo looked at him with deep concern. “How are you doing Leader Mouse?” He asked. Throttle, not raising his head just smiled weakly. “Not too good Big Guy, but I aint, aint giving up…yet.” He said slowly. Modo looked at him not doing anything to hide his worry. They hadn’t been in a situation this bad in a while, and it was already getting worse. He could already hear the Monster Mob closing in on them again. It was almost like those things could smell them!   
“Huh, Hey Bros, Look!” Vinnie breathlessly shouted out and pointed at something! All 3 turned to see what it was. “What is it, what is it?” Modo stammered confusedly. Throttle was barely able to raise his head up to look. “Its Limburger’s Tower, its back!” Vinnie shouted! 

They looked and saw the familiar and unfriendly site of the Limburger Tower. Setting in its normal place. “When did that eyesore show back up?” Modo growled. For almost 3 weeks now it had been a vacant lot since the last time they had destroyed it. Limburger was good at rebuilding the dump, but not this good! “That aint all that’s back in town, there is the Big Cheese and the Disgusting Duo too!” Vinnie added while pointing at the Tower’s front doors.   
Sure enough, standing right out in front stood Limburger, Karbunkle and Greasepit. They were standing around looking out at the flooding City. Flooding with both water and monsters. The Plutarkian looked annoyingly pleased with himself. 

Throttle reached out and grabbed his helmet and managed to shove it back on to his head after a couple of clumsy attempts. He took a deep troubled breath and tried to put as much strength into his voice as he could. He tried to sound as confident as he normally would, but he didn’t do a particularly good job of it.   
“Tuh, time to, to go fishing bros!” He stammered weakly. “The only one tha, that wuh, will know how to stop these, these things will be Limburger!” He said while starting his bike’s engine and revving it up! Modo and Vinnie just nodded and did the same as him. The 3 powerful Martian Machines roared out of the small, swamped park and tore across the deepening water towards the Tower.   
In front of the Tower, Greasepit pointed out the charging Mice to his boss. All three of them turned and ran inside, leaving the wide glass doors open behind them! A few seconds later the Mice tore thru the open doors after their prey! The Mice exploded into the large lobby area on a tidal wave of water they created as they raced towards the Tower! They splashed to a stop, all most falling over!   
“Come out, come out you Reeking Rejects!” Vinnie shouted out, taunting his enemies to come out and fight! He got no answer! “Where are they!?” Modo shouted out as he scanned the eerily empty lobby. Throttle looked around too, his head visibly shaking as he weakly scratched at his neck. There was no sign of the Plutarkian or his employees anywhere, nor were there any Goons which by now would normally be attacking them.   
“Greetings My Itchy Irritated Irritants!” Boomed Limburger who suddenly appeared right in front of them in a flash of purple light! Acting on instinct all three of the Mice opened fire with their bike’s front laser cannons! The rays went right thru Limburger and exploded against the rear wall! Limburger, completely unfazed smiled back at them with an evil grin! The Mice just stared back dumbfounded by this! 

While the Mice were still shocked by their failed attack, flying out of the darkness behind them came two stalkers on their hover disks! They were carrying a long metal staff between them, which they rammed into the backs of the Mice, flipping all of them off their bikes to crash on to the hard wet floor of the lobby! The Bros landed amidst a chorus of groans as they impacted on the unforgiving floor!   
From the left and right of the bikes, the other 2 Stalkers stepped out of the shadows! One was carrying a large cannister like weapon which it fires at the bikes! Out shot a glowing mesh web which wrapped around all three of the bikes, entangling them in a sparking net! The other Stalker, The Red Leader, fired a hooked line from his weapon, that snagged on the glowing net, which he then fired a rocket that the line was attached to! The Rocket flew out the open doors of the Tower, the line went taught and carried all 3 bikes outside, to come to a crash in the water in a pile of crackling energy!

Vinnie was the first of the Mice to get to his feet, he let out a rage filled battle cry and jumped forward, attempting to deliver a mean uppercut punch right to Limburgers many chinned face! Vinnie’s fist passed harmlessly thru Limburger like he was a ghost! Vinnie let out a confused gasp as his punch carried him thru the noncorporeal Fish to once more crash on to the floor! Limburger laughed as he took in the shocked look on his enemies confused faces!   
“He’s a hologram!” Throttle snarled out thru pain clenched teeth! Modo’s red glowing eye scanned about and sure enough. There above them was a small little drone hovering above them, projecting a beam of light that carried the image of the Big Cheese himself. Modo raised his arm cannon to blast it out of the air, but Throttle grabbed Modo’s cyborg arm and pulled it down. Modo gave him a look, questioning why.

Throttle whispered an answer to him. “Let the Big Mouth Bass talk, He, he might let something slip.” Modo looked at Throttle then to the Limburger Hologram and lowered his arm. “Should have realized it wasn’t really him.” Modo growled. “The Air aint full of his stench!” He said to insult the Plutarkian. Limburger just laughed and wiggled his fat fingers in a sick wave at him. While this was going on, the 4 Stalkers had moved to stand together in front of the still open lobby doors. Their weapons pointing at the floor but make no mistake. They would not allow the Mice to escape past them. 

The Limburger hologram floated over to stand in front of them. He glared down at them with glowing hateful mirth filled eyes. “Well, it looks like we have reached that part in our story where its time for the Bad Guy Expositional Monologue once again.” He chuckled down at them. Vinnie had crept up behind him and kept poking at it. Hoping to find something solid enough so he could hit it!   
“I do so hope you have been enjoying the pleasant weather and my little pets visiting the city!” Limburger said jokingly to them. The Mice didn’t laugh. “Oh dear, it appears as if all my efforts are not being appreciated, I am wounded to the quick.” Limburger said feigning disappointment. Vinnie at this point gave up trying to grab the fishy phantom and moved over to stand next to his bros. He reached down and put one paw under Throttle’s arm while Modo did the same on the other side and helped their weakened leader get to his feet. 

The Hologram floated forward and passed thru them like a ghost. Vinnie let out a shiver while saying creepy when it happened. Limburger came to a stop by the Stalkers guarding the doors. He looked out into the Storm Battered City. He turned and looked at the mice, who were all scratching their fur. This made Limburger smile even more.   
“As I am sure that you have more than likely managed to figure out a few of the little points to my little plot by now.” He smiled evilly at them. “Such as how the weather, the creatures and your little skin condition are all connected.” He imparted to them. The Mice stared back at him, waiting for him to continue with bated breath.   
“I have personally taken it upon myself to spare no expense and made every effort to overcome every difficulty to make sure this would be one adventure you would NEVER forget!” He said embellishing his efforts in a very hammy way. If he hadn’t gone into the world destroying business, he could have been an actor he thought to himself.   
“The Monsters that are now invading this miserable metropolis are known as The Savage Sucking Slime Molds of Plutark!” He informed them. “In their normal state they are about the size of my thumb, but thanks to some imaginative genetic modification, they are capable of reaching the most entertaining proportions they have now, but they do require a certain level of atmospheric mix of heat and humidity to be able to function” He said pointing outside to the still raining downpour. 

The Mice glared at him, really wishing he were here so they could pound him into fish paste. Limburger relished the hate in their eyes and continued his monologue. “I have had, mmm, shall we same some new accomplices move about the city, planting the darling little creatures in the City’s sewer system, where they fed upon all kinds of biological matter, helping to nourish themselves to grow to their current healthy status.” He sighed feeling happy with himself. The Bros felt like throwing up.   
“Which leads me to the next segment of my sinister scenario!” He chuckled evilly. Throttle shook his tired head. This Fish really does love to hear himself talk but made no effort to shut him up yet. “The somewhat distracting itch you have all developed is all thanks to another form of Plutarkian Life form known as Psycho Plankton. “He continued explaining. Enjoying the anger growing on the furry faces of his enemies. 

“They happen to be a particularly favorite snack of the Slime Molds.” He said looking outside again. “As I am sure you have noticed, the Slime Molds are very Attracted to you three vermin.” He snarled. “As the plankton painfully consume you, they put out quite powerful particulates that the Slime Molds find Very Attractive and quite easy to follow. As he said this a loud and getting louder awfully familiar hungry moaning could be heard. 

“Which at last leads up to the final part of the story.” He said with a self-satisfied sigh. “The Sudden reappearance of my Tower back in Chicago after a somewhat prolonged absence.” He said with a sinister smile. “Ah, because this is no ordinary Tower, but a very specially constructed Tower!” He added with a tone of triumph in his voice. “For I have finally built the Better Mousetrap!” He yelled. “A Mouse Trap that NONE OF YOU SHALL SURVIVE!” He bellowed while laughing maniacally!   
As he continued to laugh, the Stalkers rose on their anti-gravity disks, backed out the door and up into the stormy sky. Behind them moved a wall of the Slime Mold Creatures toward the open doors! Suddenly from the top door frame dropped several think metal-bars, making the Tower’s front door resemble a cell door. The Slime Mold Monsters swarmed in thru the entrance and passed thru the bars, or more accurately around them! 

The Mice could only watch as the Hologram of Limburger stood in front of them, malevolently laughing like a maniac as the Savage Sucking Slime Molds slithered up behind him, and then thru him, their only thought in their savage minds was to devour the Biker Mice from Mars!  
They were mere feet away from their much-wanted meal as they reached out with their burning tentacles, Their Hungry Howling echoing off the Tower Walls! 

To Be Continued!


	7. Biker Mice from Mars : Slime Mold Dance Ch 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have gotten worse...somehow

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 7.

The Flooded Streets of Chicago were almost empty of human life! The only things moving freely were actual Things! The Savage Sucking Slime Molds moved almost completely unopposed! The Citizens of Chicago, including the Police and Fire Dept that had been doing all they could to fight the Infesting Invaders, had been forced to either run away or take whatever shelter they could! Now all most could do was wait and hope to survive until Help arrived!

Everyone had done what they could to turn their houses, apartments, or whatever structure they found themselves in into the best fortresses they could! Chicago was a city under Slimy Siege! The Slime Mold Monsters wandered almost mindlessly thru the city. Devouring anything or anyone they could catch! Leaving in their wake whatever materials they couldn’t. Hundreds of cars and trucks were left without tires. Parks reduced to muddy dirt lots. Wooden benches now reduced to the metal struts they rested on. On a Brightside, almost all the litter had been cleaned off the streets!

Racing thru the water clogged streets, Charley fought like crazy to keep her powerful 4X4 Tow Truck from being washed off the street by the rising waters! The rising water was almost higher than the big all terrain tires she had on the truck! She was doing her best to keep from colliding with any of the creatures as well! On that detail, she hadn’t been doing the best of jobs! Her poor truck was showing the signs of having hit a few of the beasts. The Truck’s paint job was ruined. “My poor truck.” She sighed to herself.

“Are you trying to hit those things, Davidson?!” Hard Luck Moaned as he bounced around in the passenger seat, silently thanking the inventor of the seat belt for their safety device. “If you think you can do any better, I am more than happy to let you drive!” Charley snapped at him, now once more dressed in her Masked Ryder Leather Gear, complete with the helmet!  
Hard Luck wisely shut his mouth and tightened his grip as the truck bounced and rattled as it rammed thru another Slime Mold Monster that burst out of the deep water in front of the truck! It splattered all over the street! Charley wondered if it had learned its lesson on trying to eat something bigger then it as she watched it pull itself back together in her rear-view mirror.

Dently let out a loud chorus of noises as he blasted away at the Slime Molds as they drove by. He was hanging from the tow hook mechanism on the back of the truck. He didn’t have any tires, so he wasn’t capable of navigating down the streets, regardless of the water. He was acting as the truck's main line of defense, shooting as best he could at the monsters that tried to get close to the truck!

“Hey, Stop taking her side!” Hard Luck yelled back at him! “What did he say?” Charley asked him. “Nothing complimentary about my driving skills.” Hard Luck grumbled. “Where are we going anyway?” He asked as much to find out as to change the subject.

“We're going to the Hideout.” She told him. “There is some stuff there that can help us save the guys from the monsters, I hope.” She said trying to keep some hope in her voice that the guys could still be saved.

“Th, The Hi, Hideout?” Hard Luck stammered with an anxious look on his face. Charley looked at him then she remembered. “Oh, right you haven’t been there yet, yeah the Hideout” She said. “That is where the guys hang out when they aren’t making a mess of my garage.” She said with a sad smile. She would give almost anything to know that they would be ok to make a mess of her poor Last Chance again.

“We're almost there, just another few blocks and we will be at the…” She said before Hard Luck interrupted her. “Hey, look out for that, uh thing in the road!” Hard Luck shouted out and pointed at something thru the front windshield! Charley nearly lost control of the truck at his sudden outburst!

“What is it, what, where?” Charley gasped as she brought the truck back on to the river like street and looking around wildly for whatever Hard Luck had tried to warn her about, but when she looked at him, he had rolled the passenger window down and was half leaning out of it, He was yelling something at Dently!

“Hey, get back in here!” She shouted! “You are going to flood the cab!” Water was splashing in thru the open window, drenching Hard Luck and the truck’s seats. She was glad she had her leather pants on again. She could hear him and Dently talking to each other, but she couldn’t make out what was being said over the engine and the water.

Hard Luck dropped back into his drenched seat with a splash, and he rolled the window back up. He looked like a drowned rat. Boy is that an expression she should never use in earshot of Modo. “What was all that about?” She shouted at him. “Huh, What?” Hard Luck said with a twitchy look on his dripping face. “What were you doing!?” She shouted at him again.  
“I, uh, wa, was, telling Duh, Dently to, to um, hang, uh, on, on tighter.” He fumbled nervously. “Are we there yet?” He added quickly. “What?” She said, not sounding sure of herself. “Oh, um yeah, its just right around the next corner.” She told him than giving him a sideways look turned to give the dangerous road her full attention.

Hard Luck leaned back in his seat and gave Charley a nervous sideways glance, and when he felt she was distracted enough he banged his right gloved fist against the rear window.  
Dently, swinging back and forth on his hook, caught the signal and raised an antenna from his camera eye. An electrical charge started sparking from it. Inside the truck’s cab, Hard Luck’s own antenna started sparking with the same electrical display. His eyes went out of focus. “Oh, ow.’ He moaned. Not noticing this, Charley pulled her truck in to the Quigley Stadium Parking Lot, which now looked like a lake. A lake with a dozen or so Slime Mold Monsters in it.

There were only 2 reasons that Throttle, Modo, and Vinnie were still alive. The First being that The Slime Molds were not the quickest or most nimble of Monsters. The second was they had bad table manners! As the Slime Mold’s swarmed across the lobby of the tower after them, the bros had turned and ran as fast as they could in their weakened states. They had run thru a narrow door just seconds ahead of the monsters!

They were saved by the horde of Slime Molds all trying to cram thru it at once! Effectively clogging the door up and allowing the Biker Mice to escape albeit temporarily. They were still trapped in the Tower!

They made their way up a couple of floors in the Tower then ran into an empty room, Modo turned and closed the door, and sealed it shut by melting the lock with his arm cannon. He then turned and walked over to Throttle and Vinnie. Vinnie and Throttle were sitting on the floor manically scratching away at themselves.

Modo lumbered over, sat down next to them, and joined in. “I don’t know how much more of this I can stand; I am nearing my fun threshold.” He griped while trying to reach that spot on his back he always has trouble with. Their Psycho Plankton infection was spreading.  
“We, we have to, to get out of here and find a way of getting, getting rid of these pests.” Throttle gasped. He had it worse than his brothers, and he was fading fast. Modo and Vinnie looked at him with very worried expressions.

“One Exit, coming up!” Modo growled and raised his arm cannon and pointed it at the office window and opened fire! The Energy Charge zapped out of his cannon, and hit the window, then bounced back and around the room in an out-of-control Ricochet!

“Whoa!” All 3 of the Mice yelled as they dived for cover! The Bolt bounced off the walls a few more times before exploding in the center of the room! “Whoa, Momma!” Modo gasped as he picked himself up off the floor. Vinnie hopped up and ran over to the window. “There aint a scratch on it!” He yelled and punched the window. “OW!” He gawped and shook his sore fist!  
“Ah, I see you have noticed my improved construction methods.” Limburger said smarmily as his hologram projection appeared out of no where next to Throttle, who fell over with a thud. “What’s the deal Fish Face?” Throttle said as he rolled over and glared up at his transparent nemesis. “You stop being a cheap skinflint for once?”

Limburger chuckled and returned his glare at him. “Precisely, You Persistent Pest!” He said. “This entire Tower has been specifically constructed out of Plutarkian Armored Battle Plate.”  
“Stuff it up your Battle Plate!” Vinnie yelled and with his near lightening quick reflexes, he pulled one of his laser-guns from his bandolier and fired it at Limburger, who the blasts passed harmlessly thru, and then ricocheted off the walls, once again sending the mice hurtling to the floor for cover!

Limburger’s Hologram laughed almost uncontrollably as he watched the mice squirm around on the floor dodging the laser which hit the floor and exploded, igniting the tip of Vinnie's tail! “Ow, ow, ow!” He yelled as he grabbed it and blew out the flames. Throttle rolled over and laughed, grabbing his sides which ached in pain. Vinnie just glared at him.

“Oh, make that SHIELDED Plutarkian Armored Battle Plate.” Limburger added with a chuckle. Throttle raised himself up on one elbow. “Must have broke your fishy bank to do that Big Cheese.” He said in a mocking voice.

“Oh, why not at all, it didn’t cost me a thing.” Limburger said with a smile. “So, that means…” Throttle said waiting for Limburger to complete the sentence. “I stole it.” He said with an even bigger smile. “Of course.” Throttle sighed and laid back down on the floor and started scratching again.

“Yes, this entire tower has been constructed from the most INESCAPABLE material!” Limburger snarled. “None of your weapons have the power to break thru the walls, and the pursuing Slime Molds won’t give you the time to figure a way out! He said. “Oh. and on that note, that reminds me.” He said and snapped his noncorporeal fins.

The Mice looked up as hidden nozzles popped out of the ceiling and started spraying a heavy mist of water into the room. Vinnie was quietly thankful for it as it cooled his burnt tail. “Wouldn’t want our Moldy Friends to get too parched in their pursuit.” Limburger chuckled. He blipped out of existence as Modo blasted the small golf ball sized drone that was projecting the hated image.

“That felt good.” Modo growled as he scratched his side. “So, now what do we do?” He asked. Throttle slowly and painfully pulled himself up onto his unsteady feet. “That Rancid Reinhold is right, we can’t sit around.” He groaned. “Our only chance is to keep moving and to see if we can find a way out of this, cause if we sit around too long it will just give the Mold time to catch up with us.” He moaned thru his pain, and almost on cue, a familiar sound could be heard squelching its way up the hall towards the room they were in.

“I would rather go out Itching for a Fight, than sit around scratching any day.” Joked Vinnie with a grim look on his face. “You said it Smokey.” Throttle added. Vinnie just snorted and smiled while he helped Modo pick Throttle up and carry him out a side door, as the door, they came in thru started to shake and smoke as the Slime Molds attacked it.

Standing on the roof of a smaller building across from the Tower, the group of Stalkers stood in the downpouring rain, gazing down at the horde of the gooey monsters as they swarmed around the Plutarkian Edifice and in thru the front doors. If this keeps up, the building would be literally crammed full of the monsters. They started to wonder if that was the actual intent.

A small drone came flying up to them and projected another hologram of Limburger in front of them. He smiled at them. They glared hatefully back at him. “We have done all that you have demanded of us Plutarkian, we…request that you release us…now!” The Red Leader growled.

“Oh, I am not ready to relinquish myself of your services yet.” Limburger smiled nastily back at him. “As long as the Mice still live, I still have need of you.” He rasped at them, dropping all pretense of comradery. They were indentured servants, and he wasn’t about to let them forget it.

“I won’t let you go until I feel that you have paid me back in full, and until then, you all belong to ME!” He said in his most professional businessman way. The Hate coming off the Stalkers almost made the rain falling on them boil off. Limburger didn’t fail to notice this, he in fact relished in it.

“I have another assignment for you.” He said. He turned and pointed at the 3 gray Stalkers. “I want you 3 to watch that tower like ravenous raptors, don’t you dare take an eye off it for a second.” He growled with his voice full of menace. “I don’t want those repulsive rodents getting lucky and pulling off some last second miraculous escape.” He then turned to the Red Leader. “I want You to personally ensure that miracle does not happen.” He said to him. “Go and hunt down that Human Female that is friends with the mice and eliminate her at once.”  
The Red Leader recalled his encounter with Charley, and it bought a cruel smile to the mandibles on his face. He wouldn’t mind meeting her again at all. “What of the Blue Furred Martian?” The Red Leader asked. “He is sure to be somewhere near the Human Female.”  
Limburger didn’t say anything. He just smiled. The hologram flickered and faded out. The small drone flew back towards the tower. The Stalkers all turned and stared at each other, then disappeared into the rain filled shadows.

Crash went the heavy metal door as Charley kicked it open. Her laser pistol entered first, followed closely by her. She gazed around in the near pitch darkness of the large room but couldn’t see or hear any movement from within. She fumbled around on the wall next to her with her other hand until she found the light switch and flipped it on.

All looked safe inside the Scoreboard Hideout! There were a couple of big puddles on the concrete floor dripping in from the roof high above them, but when compared to the rest of the city. It was High and Dry!

She reached back behind out the door and grabbed something and pulled it into the room. “Get in here you Big Blue Dummy!” She growled as she pulled Hard Luck into the room. “Uhh?” He mumbled as he tripped on his metal foot, and fell onto her, nearly knocking them both over. She pushed him off, sending him back on to the wall, where he slid down to a sitting position and stared blindly at some imaginary spot while his paws just scratched his chest and arms. An almost steady stream of electricity danced between the tops of his antenna, sending small sparks bouncing off his battered leather aviator helmet.

“Hard Luck, what is wrong with you?” Charley knelt in front of him and looked him directly into his face. He had been like this almost the instant they pulled into the stadium's parking lot. She hadn’t been able to get a word out of him. All he seemed capable of were grunts and gasps.

She had pulled her truck right up to a side employee door of the stadium, and left Dently, still hanging from the back of the truck, to do his best to keep the Slime Molds from getting in and wrecking her truck. She could still hear his weapons blasting away. It was their only means of both escape and transport thru the city. She wished she had her battle bike, but it was hidden in the alley by the warehouse where she and Hard Luck had fought the Stalkers.  
Its electronics had been fried by whatever the Alien Hunters had zapped it with, and she just hoped the Cops hadn’t found it while they investigated the area. That would be a whole lot of questions she really didn’t want to answer.

Then there was Hard Luck. Since they got into the stadium, his brain-dead act had nearly gotten them killed half a dozen time’s now. If she hadn’t kept a hold on him, He would wander off like a distracted 2-year-old. Then there were the Slime Molds they encountered inside the stadium. Granted they would chase anything that moved, hoping to make a meal out of it, but as soon as they got a whiff of the Martian Mouse, they started acting like long starved fiends! They would trample each other to get at him!

She had nearly drained the power on her laser, and at best had only managed to slow them down! The only thing that saved them was the elevator she dragged Hard Luck into. Granted She nearly had a heart attack waiting for the doors to close as the Slime Molds came roaring at them like Slimy Demons! She hadn’t started breathing again until the doors opened 4 floors up.

“Hello, earth to Hard Luck, can you hear me!” She yelled into his face while waving her gloved hands in front of his eyes. His head just bobbled around slightly, as his mouth dropped open and he started to drool while continuing to scratch at himself. His antenna continuing to spark away.

“Hard Luck, snap out of it!’ Charley yelled then giving in to her anger and despair she started to slap him with her right hand across his face! Back and forth went her gloved hand, making loud cracks each time it connected with his wet furry face. He didn’t seem to notice it all at first until, as fast as a striking snake, his right paw in the heavy leather glove snapped up and grabbed her wrist in a vice like grip, and he squeezed. Charley let out a pained gasp as his grip got tighter and tighter, and then the cold hit! She remembered that from weeks ago right when she first met him. He had grabbed her like this with his gloved right paw, and she remembered the cold! A Cold so strong it burned! Her wrist was starting to go numb!  
The worst part was his eyes. She looked at him with pain and shock. His eyes were no longer unfocused but were staring directly at her! His odd green and yellow eyes bore into her! They had a steel like intensity but at the same time seemed hollow, like there was nothing behind them. The electric energy on his antenna increased their flow!

“Hard Luck, stop it, your hurting me!” She yelled at him. No response, just the same stare as he continued to squeeze harder and harder. “Ow, Hard Luck!” She all but screamed at him, her wrist felt like it would shatter like ice. He only stared back at her. She pulled back her left hand, made a fist and punched him right in the snout as hard as she could!

His head shot back and slapped against the concrete wall, his eyes snapped shut and the electricity around his antenna also flicked out! His head fell forward and his eyes opened like a drowned person getting his first breath! “Huh, whu..” He got out before She punched him in the nose again! His head slapping against the wall again!

“OW!” He yelled out, his left paw flying up to protect himself! “What I do, what you hittin me for!?” He cried out, in what sounded like an often-repeated phrase. “Hard Luck Let Me GO!” She yelled at him letting out a pain filled cry at the same time. He gave her a confused look then saw her arm in his right hand. His eyes filled with wide open fear and he let her go like she was radioactive!

“Oh Cheese!” He gasped and tried to back thru the wall behind him! “Fromage, I am sorry, oh I didn’t hurt you did I, oh I I didn’t mean it, I am so sorry, Cheese, Cheese, Oh Fondue Me!” He stammered on the verge of sounding like he could go into a full panic!

“Hard Luck, Snap Out of IT!” Charley yelled at him while massaging her right wrist, really hoping she would not have to punch him again! He looked at her, his face full of what looked like a cross between relief and guilt! He looked like he was going to start crying! Oh, she wouldn’t be able to handle that!

She grimaced and let go of her sore wrist and grabbed him by his furry shoulders and gently shook him! “Don’t you dare start crying because if you do, so will I!” She said with a sad laugh. Hard luck just avoided her eyes and gave her a whimpering chuckle. He blinked a few times to stop some of those odd oily, smoking tears of his that just added to the mascara like markings around his eyes.

Charley pushed herself up to her feet and then reached down and he gave her his left paw, he kept his right tucked behind his back, she got the feeling he didn’t want to answer any of her questions, so she decided to give in to that notion, for now, but later, if there is a later, well worry about that when it happens.

“So, uh, I take it this is the most righteous secret hideout I haven’t really heard about?” Hard Lucked asked, looking around the large room they were in. “Yup, this is it, in all its glory,” Charley told him in that voice that only a woman can manage when standing in a Man Cave or should that be Mouse Hole, she wondered to herself.

The place was a disaster area, and that was putting it mildly. The place was really a large and somewhat forgotten storage area that had been built into the Massive Scoreboard for the stadium. Its walls were lined with large multi-shelved storage racks. Every bit of space was filled with boxes, either of equipment for the Stadium or motorcycle parts, from the earth and beyond.

A large chunk of the space was taken up by the dismantled remnants of the Guys’ crashed spaceship. Plus, lots of weapons of all makes and sizes. The rest was just empty root beer bottles, and cans. Empty hot dog bun sacks, and other food containers. Not to mention all the tools, and oil stains, and tire skid marks on the floor.

“Men.” Charley grumbled as she looked at the monumental mess. The big Life-sized poster of Vinnie on the wall did bring a snide smile to her face. Vinnie was striking a Manly Pose as he would have put it. After He handed the bill for it to her TWICE (The original having to be replaced because it got left 65 million years in the past), she said something quite different, and quite loudly about what she thought of it, as Vinnie could attest too.

She looked back over her shoulder to check that Hard Luck was still with her, both physically and mentally. He was still in the room, but as for the other state of being, she couldn’t be sure. He was looking around the room at the mess and objects. She could tell there was a wide range of emotions running across his face. Everything from wonder to melancholy.  
She had known him for 3 weeks now, give or take. She had been in a few life and death situations with him. She had been in battles with him. She could not figure him out. He acted like he wanted to be a part of things, be one of the guys, but would then be stand-offish. He would be helpful one moment and belligerent the next. Like he wanted to stay but couldn’t wait to leave. A big blue bag of contradictions. Something she didn’t have time to worry about now.

“There is what I am looking for!” She said and hurried over to a stack of 3 large boxes. On each of the boxes were the bros names with some extra letters. Throttle BK, Modo BK, and Vinnie BK.

“How can a hamburger joint help with things?” Hard Luck asked as he looked at the boxes too. “Huh, what?” Charley asked confused, then she looked at the boxes again and laughed. “No!” She laughed again. “That isn’t what the letters stand for, but if we get this stuff to the guys, they will be able to deal with the monsters like real kings.” She said and started to open the boxes to inspect the contents.

“Well, if you say so, I guess you know what…Huh?” Hard luck started to say when he suddenly stopped midsentence. Charley turned and froze. Standing right behind him was the Red Stalker Leader, with a cruel smile on its ugly face! Before She could blink, it had grabbed Hard Luck’s shoulders with its large, clawed hands!

“Argh!” Hard Luck cried out as the claws dug into his shoulders and lifted him off his feet! The Stalker lifted him up into the air and threw him headfirst into a big metal trashcan that was in the room! He landed with a painful crunching noise.

The only part of him sticking out was his bandaged tail and two mismatched legs. The Stalker then spun around and delivered a savage kick to the can and sent it and Hard Luck flying across the room! A muffled yell could be heard coming from inside the can as it sailed thru the air, right before it crashed into a tall shelf, when it and all its contents fell over on top of the trash can in a loud explosion of crashes and smashing boxes and engine parts!  
The Stalker watched this with amusement, then it turned, and its yellow eyes opened wide! “Back Off Ugly!” Charley yelled while pointing her laser gun point blank at him. The Stalker laughed.

“I am warning you, don’t come any closer!” Charley yelled again and put more empathies into pointing her gun at him. “I have come to collect my trophy, Brave One.” The Stalker said calmly and stepped towards her slowly.

“I will shoot you.” She said as calmly as she could. The Stalker still smiled. “Yes, I can tell, you will.” He still moved forward slowly. He spread the claws on his hands wide open. Charley’s eyes grew wide. Her finger tightened on the trigger.

“I can smell the fear in you.” The Stalker said calmly. “You do not want to hurt me, but you will if I push you.” She could see it was getting some sick enjoyment out of this. She felt sick. “You do not want to do this, but you will not abandon the…idiot.” The Stalker said with a pause and a mean chuckle as it nodded towards the trash can wiggling under the metal shelves and debris.

“No, I won’t.” She said and raised the gun higher. The Stalker darted to Charley’s right. She dropped slightly and opened fire! The Stalker dropped, then jumped high into the air and somersaulted up, and landed to Charley’s left side. She kept firing! Her blasts were just barely missing! She had hit its flowing cape, burning off pieces of it!

The Stalker dropped rolled and came up right in front of her! The gun was pointed right in between its eyes! Charley pulled the trigger! *Fzzt* went the gun. Charley looked down and saw the power cable hanging loosely on the side. She looked up and saw the small thin blade in the Stalker's Hand that he had used to cut it. She saw the cruel smile on its face get even crueler. “Aw, nuts.” Charley groaned.

A loud crash sounded behind them, both Charley and the Stalker turned to look. The Shelves and pile of junk suddenly raised up as the Trash Can underneath it stood up! Charley could hear Hard Luck’s mechanical leg grinding as it pushed him up! His paws then gripped the rim of the trash can and pushed it off him, and he shook his head to clear it then he looked right at the stalker. “AAAHH!” He yelled and jumped right at the Stalker!

Charley smiled as she watched this, and then frowned as the Stalker simply sidestepped out of the way and let Hard Luck go past, but not before the Stalker kicked him in the butt, unbalancing him, sending him to crash headfirst into a metal support beam! His head made a loud Bang as it collided with it.  
“Ouch!” Charley gasped. That had to hurt. Hard Luck stood up and spun around, very unsteadily. His eyes doing little spins in his head. “Wuhhhguuhuhh?” He garbled. The Stalker made a disgusted snort, and almost casually threw a bolo weapon at him. The Bolo wrapped around Hard Luck and the Support beam, it spun around both and tightened up, pinning his arms to his side. “Glurrphh!’ gasped Hard Luck as the breath was squeezed out of him. The Cords of the bolo weapon dug into his fur, it looked like they might slice him into several large, messy mouse chunks!

“Oh, Hard Luck.” Charley sighed. “Pest.” The Stalker growled. He then turned to Charley. “Now, where were we, oh yes.” He smiled and stepped towards her. Charley grabbed the first thing she could, too bad it was a broom. She waved it around as threateningly as she could. She did wonder how a broom got in here for a second though.

“Don’t You Come Near Me, Stay Back!” Charley yelled out holding the broom like a sword. “Oh, your head will make a fine trophy.” The Stalker said with a smile. Charley swung the broom handle like a crazy person at first, the Stalker easily dodging it, but Charley suddenly pulled a clever feint and managed to hit the Stalker on the side of his head!

A look of surprise crossed its cruel face, but it then smiled at her again! She got the feeling she may have just made a mistake. It wasn’t going to underestimate her again! It unsheathed the small, long blade again and Charley suddenly found her broom handle falling to the floor in several pieces!

Charley’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she looked down at the broom head and the little nub of the handle she held in her hands, then she looked up at the Stalker who was calmly walking towards her, playing with his knife.

Charley took a deep gulp of air, thought about making a wisecrack about him needing to clean up his act, thought better of it and just threw the broom head at him, which the Stalker effortlessly dodged. Sadly, it flew over him and hit poor tied down Hard Luck right in the forehead. “OW!” He yelled.

“Sorry!” Charley apologized. She then turned and ran for all she was worth out of the metal door to the hideout and into the Stadiums corridors. “I do so love it when they try to ru…” The Stalker started to say before he was cut off by Charley running back into the room with a High-Pitched Scream!

Both the Stalker and Hard Luck looked up and wondered what got her to come back. The answer slimed their way thru the door a couple of seconds later! Right on her heels about a half dozen of the Slime Mold Monsters crashed thru the door!

None of them had heard the approach of the creatures thanks to their battle, now that they were less preoccupied the roars of the creatures were quite noticeable, and more could be heard coming up the hallway outside!

Charley darted over and started to climb up one of the large metal shelves in the room. The Stalker seeing her do this did the same, regretting that it had hidden its flying disks out in the hallway, with the beasts!

The Slime Molds stood still for a second and looked around the room greedily, searching for their prey, when they all stopped and stood still for a few seconds. All of their ugly misshapen heads slowly turned and looked straight at the tied up Hard Luck.

The Molds all let out an almost happy sounding set of roars and raced towards the Bound Martian! All the color drained out of Hard Luck’s Blue Furred Face. “Oh, not again!” He wheezed!

To Be Continued…


	8. Biker Mice from Mars: Slime Mold Dance pt 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Going full Zombie Movie mixed with Die Hard now... a little bit of Predator tossed in.

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 8

“HARD LUCK!” Charley yelled out from her high perch on top of one of the tall metal shelves in the Biker Mice’s Scoreboard Hideout! She watched in open horror as the horde of Slime Mold Monsters oozed like a wave of gooey death towards the helpless bound Martian!  
The Howling Mass reached out greedily for him, their tentacles whipping towards him like snakes! Hard Luck’s eyes nearly popping out of his head as he tried to back thru the steel support beam, he was tied to by the Stalkers Bolo.   
Charley looked across from her to see the Stalker Leader, also perched on top of a shelf across from her. It was watching the show below them as well, but unlike her, it just had a kind of morbid curiosity, not appalled but still appreciating the fact that He was up here and not down there.   
Hard Luck let out a pathetic little “eep” as the Slime Molds tackled him like football players! He disappeared behind the sickly green wall! The Monsters started making disgusting sucking and slurping noises and the air filled with a disgusting burning smell! Charley felt like she was going to throw up!   
The Slime Molds suddenly started bellowing again, but now it sounded like cries of pain instead of the pleasured feeding noises! Charley raised her head and looked again. Electricity ripped around the Gooey Monsters! A second after that, they were all thrown back onto the floor when Hard Luck shut up like a guided missile as his cyborg leg’s foot jet fired!   
He shot straight up the steel beam, Charley’s hands flying to the side of her helmet futilely trying to shield her ears from the scraping shriek as the bolo wire scoured against the steel, before ripping to shreds and falling to the floor, this sound being followed by the loud crash as Hard Luck burst thru the Scoreboard’s roof and he disappeared up into the stormy night sky!   
The next thing to happen was the heavy steel support beam suddenly tilted forward, no longer being bolted to the ceiling, fell forward like a chopped down tree!   
The Beam fell, the sound of groaning metal until it slammed into the Scoreboard’s floor! The impact shaking the entire scoreboard as if a giant foot had just kicked it! The impact nearly knocking both the Stalker and Charley from their high perches!   
This kind of turned out to be a good and bad thing! The good side of it was when the steel beam fell, it hit the hideout’s door, slamming it shut, and bending the metal door into a twisted mess! Basically, not letting any more of the Slime Mold Monsters into the room with them. The bad thing was that it trapped them in the room with the slime molds already there.   
Almost as if on cue, said Slime Molds pulled themselves back together and turned to look up at them. They forgot about Hard Luck and now focused on the next available food source, namely them! They once again started bellowing and started attacking the shelves to satisfy their never-ending hunger!  
“Oh Crap!” Cried charley as she hung on for dear life as the Slime Molds stared tearing into the shelf! The Molds started swallowing the cardboard boxes and the plywood shelves, and anything else they could shove into their mouths! Spitting out anything the found inedible! Things like metal parts and tools! Charley could guess that she would not be that lucky!   
Charley took a second to look over at the Red Stalker, He was in the exact same predicament as her. The Slime molds tearing the shelf he was on to pieces as well! He looked up and looked back at her. A nasty smile once more popped up on his face. “Uh oh, I bet this isn’t good.” Charley thought to herself grimly.   
The Stalker jumped from his shelf, grabbed the metal roof supports and did a series of flips towards her. Charley swallowed and got to her feet on the shaking shelf and took a wild jump into the air! More by luck then anything else, she grabbed a long rope that was tied to the ceiling! The guys would probably say it was for training and exercise.   
She would guess it was more for monkeying around and the stupidly dangerous games they like to play, but right now she just slid down to the floor. She hit the floor running! She bolted as fast as she could for one of the small crawl hatches that led out to the Scoreboard itself!   
She kicked open the hatch cover and threw herself out onto the Scoreboard catwalk! The Scoreboard had been fully electronic for over a decade, so the old catwalk was only used for repairs and maintenance now, but Charley was incredibly grateful it was still there!   
She had hardly pulled herself back to her feet before the Stalker practically appeared behind her on the catwalk! She fell on her backside as he reached out to grab her! She crawled backwards as fast as she could, the Stalker almost casually following her, the worst part being that He still had that horrible smile on his ugly alien face!   
“A fine chase, my trophy but time I collect.” He cruelly smiled at her. Charley tried to think of an appropriate comeback but the site behind the stalker wiped any witty replies from her mind.   
The whole catwalk suddenly shuddered as a mass of Slime Molds gushed out of the open hatch! The Molds burbled out like icing squeezed from a tube! You couldn’t tell where one ended and the other started! The Slime Blob, a mass of mouths, tentacles, and hollow yellow eyes, turned as one and moved towards them both!   
The catwalks started to rip loose from the scoreboard under the Slime Blob, which continued to grow as the Molds kept oozing out from the hatch! Charley and the Stalker started to slide towards the Blob!   
They both looked over the railing. The Stadium Field looked like a massive walled in ocean! Floating in the water were a few dozen Slime Molds! The Molds in the water floated over underneath them, being drawn over by the noise!   
All either of them could do now was hang on as the catwalk quaked under the mass of the blob oozing towards them! “WAAAUUUHHH LOOK OUT BELOW!” Yelled out Hard Luck! Charley and the Stalker looked up into the Rain! Falling towards them, smoke trailing from his exhausted jet, Hard Luck was tumbling out of control towards them!   
Charley and the Stalker both grabbed on to the railing and held on for dear life! SPLAT/CRASH! Hard Luck fell directly onto the Slime Blob! The impact and weight were too much for the catwalk! It ripped free from the side with the Blob on it!   
The Catwalk fell and swung loose! The Blob and Hard Luck falling off towards the water! The Blob splashed down right onto the other Molds! The Stalker lost his grip and started to fall towards the horde below! For the first time a look of Fear gripped his face!   
“Gaakk!” He croaked out as his fall was suddenly stopped! His cape snapped tight around his neck! He grabbed it with his clawed hands and pulled, doing what he could to allow himself to breathe! He looked up to see what saved him!   
Looking down at him, was charley! Her body wrapped around the catwalk railing. She held the end of his cape with one hand. Her face gripped in pain and sweat as she strained to not drop him! His yellow eyes stared up at her not understanding. He looked down at the slobbering Slime Mold Horde below him, and then back up at her. She was verging on fainting but wasn’t about to let go!   
The Stalker glared, and then pulled himself up, grabbed on to the railing and flipped up to perch next to Charley. Once the weight was off her she gave in and passed out. The Stalker stared down confusedly at her for a few seconds, then he gently picked her up and carried her inside the scoreboard.   
“Oh my, you are all looking very tired, I imagine you could use a break about now.” Chuckled Limburger cruelly. The Mice scowled back at the hologram. Yes, Limburger was enjoying this way to much. Vinnie jumped up and started to kick and punch at the Plutarkian phantom, his blows passing harmlessly thru him. Limburger turned to say something snide at him when Vinnie’s tail whipped out and struck the small floating globe projector, sending it to smash into the wall, breaking into pieces. The Hologram blipped out. “I am getting really tired of him.” Vinnie sighed as he turned back to his bros. Throttle and Modo were leaning against a wall, vainly trying to catch their breaths.   
Vinnie didn’t know which was worse, being chased by the Slime Molds. The Psycho Plankton infection driving them crazy and making them as weak as newborns, or Limburger popping up and just being an extremely annoying jerk that he couldn’t punch in the mouth! He was strongly leaning towards that last part.   
They were about halfway up the tower, and things were not any better, in fact they had gotten a bit worse. The atmosphere in the tower was so thick and oppressive that if they didn’t have their helmets, they wouldn’t be able to breathe. It felt like trying to move thru a bunch of wet towels hanging from the ceiling.   
They were all in bad shape. With the infernal itching, and the water, they all had a bad collection of burn marks from too close calls with the Slime Molds. About the only places they didn’t itch were the parts with slime mold burns and scratches.   
That and the constant irritation of Limburger appearing and tormenting them was proving to be a big distraction. They had destroyed over a dozen of the little projector drones but a few minutes later, another always appeared. Then Limburger would goad them with insults or lead the Molds to wherever they were hiding trying to catch their breath. “This Totally SUCKS!” Vinnie yelled out in frustrated rage!   
Modo and Throttle didn’t disagree. They just sat their quietly and scratched away at themselves as best they could. Throttle’s arms were so tired and numb he could barely lift them at this point. Modo helped as best he could with his tireless cyborg arm taking turns to itch them both. That and they silently envied Vinnie for once more getting another of his miraculous second bursts of energy.   
“I mean this should be one of the best days EVER!” He cried. His bros just gawked at him. “Oh, I gotta hear this.” Modo grumbled. Throttle smiled weakly and would have laughed if he had the strength. Vinnie continued to angrily pace back and forth across the empty room, albeit he did it with a slight limp and not extremely fast.  
“Just look at it this way. “He said and tried to explain, with what passed for him, as reasoning. “It’s like living in a zombie movie!’ He cried out. “A city under siege by a mass of mindless murdering monsters, the heroes all but on their last legs, hold up in a building and being chased and threatened with almost constant Death and Destruction” He said with almost pure wanderlust in his voice! “But that Fat Fish has made it just miserable enough to Suck all the Fun out of the Whole THING!” He growled and then turned to his bros to be sure to see them totally agree with him.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. “I think you may need to change the air filters in your helmet Wild Mouse.” Throttle sighed. Modo just rolled his eye and leaned back against the wall and chuckled. He needed a good laugh.   
Vinnie just gave them a disgusted look. He just couldn’t figure out how someone, especially his BROS of all Mice, just couldn’t ENJOY these Life and Death Struggles like He did! “I don’t understand you two at ALL sometimes!” He said to them in complete bewilderment. Throttle and Modo just had to laugh again.   
WHAM! The wall behind them shuddered under a massive impact! The 3 of them turned wearily and looked at the wall as it started to bulge and smoke. “Well, breaks over, back to the grind.” Modo groaned as he pushed himself up off the floor and reached down with his cyborg arm and lifted Throttle up.   
They had learned quickly that the exterior walls of the Tower were made of nigh indestructible materials, but the interior walls were not! The Slime Molds had no problem eating their way thru them. The Tower was also devoid of any of Limburger’s normal decorations and accoutrements. Meaning there was nothing to make any albeit temporary barricades out of. So, no matter where they found any shelter, it never took the Slime long to find them. The Interior of the tower was just a convoluted maze of empty rooms.   
Modo half carried Throttle as they stumbled over to another door and pushed their way thru it. Vinnie watched them go and then turned and glared angrily at the wall. He was so tempted to just stay and go down fighting, but really one thought stopped him. He didn’t know where she was, but she better be safe. He turned and ran after his bros scratching irritably at himself.   
No sooner had Vinnie’s tail whisked out of the door then another small drone popped out of an air vent and Limburger was once more projected into the room. The smile that spread across his fat masked face was full of the delight in watching the despair growing in his most hated enemies. He almost wished it could last forever. Almost.   
“Oowww!” Charley moaned as she bounced around on the passenger seat of her truck as it bobbed down a flooded Chicago street. “Oh, Cheese Your awake, I was starting to get worried!” Hark Luck gasped from the driver’s seat!   
“What is going on, where am I, why does everything hurt?” She asked as her helmeted head wobbled around on her shoulders as the truck rumbled over some hidden debris under the water. “OW!’ She cried again. “Watch where you’re going, and why are you driving my truck!?” She asked in a painfully confused drawl.  
“Oh, uh, how did we get here?” Hard Luck replied, not sounding like he really knew himself as he looked out the rain-washed windows. An almost hypnotized look crossed his face before he shook his head. “Oh, some of its starting to come back!” He called out happily as he drove the truck over another bump, causing Charley to cry out in pain again.   
“Clutch!’ Charley yelled thru her clenched teeth. “Huh?” Hard Luck asked. “The Clutch, use IT!” She yelled. Hard Luck looked down and realized what that third pedal was for. He nodded his head dumbly, pushed the pedal in and grabbed the gear shift and almost aimlessly shoved it around until it went in. The truck shuddered as gears ground together and the motor shuddered in pain!   
Charley sympathized with her poor truck as she grabbed her throbbing shoulder. “Pull Over!” She called out. “Huh, what?” Hard Luck gasped as he continued to grind the gears. “PULL-OVER!” She yelled at the top of her breath. Hard Luck, nearly panicking, pulled the truck over has he was ordered too, the engine died, and he bumped into a car parked in front of them. The Truck bouncing up out of the water and crashing down in a massive splash!  
Charley somehow didn’t pass out from this, turned, and glared at the extremely guilty looking Hard Luck. She could hear Dently all but screaming in his engine noises as he bounced around from the back of the truck.   
Charley leaned back in her seat, rolled her head around, blinking some of the tears and pain from her eyes, then she turned to once more glare at the Mouse. “Talk, Answers, NOW!” She growled at him. He undid his seat belt and leaned over towards her.   
“Ok, I will tell you what I can, but first I should really take care of your shoulder.” He said to her while pointing at her right shoulder which was hanging limply at her side, and she realized that her arm and shoulder really, really hurt!   
He leaned forward a little more, and he put his right paw behind her shoulder and gingerly took her arm in his other paw. “Your shoulder is dislocated, and I am gonna need to push it back in. “He said to her in a terribly slow tone. She nodded. “I am gonna need you to relax, cause if you brace up, it will just hurt even more so I really need you to relax. He continued. She nodded again.   
“Ok, on the count of five, I will do it so just relax and I will go on five.” He said nodding slowly. Charley nodded, leaned back, and closed her eyes. “I am (gulp) ready.” She said, not sounding ready at all. Hard Luck increased his grip on her but kept it delicate.   
“Ok, 1.” He said. Charley, eyes still closed breathed slowly. “2.” He said. She was ready for this she was ready for this she continued whispering silently to herself taking another deep breath. SNAP POP went her shoulder as he shoved it back into place.   
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” Shrieked Charley as tears ran down her face! Hard Luck kept a gentle hold on her to keep her from bouncing around. He gently massaged her shoulder. “Yeah, that’s gonna be sore for a few days.” He said with as much sympathy he could.   
She turned and glared at him with pure hate thru tear filled eyes. “Oh, don’t give me that look” He said with a knowing look. “As soon as I told you I was going on five, and to relax that was the last thing you were gonna do, so yeah, I have done this a few times.” He said to her. “Trust me, this was the best way.” He said while getting ready to jump back if she tried to hit him with her other arm.   
“Ok, now for the answers.” He said while still massaging her shoulder. She had to admit, it was starting to feel good. “You threw your shoulder out when you saved the Stalker from falling into the Molds.” She nodded. She remembered that. Memories of thinking her arm was going to get torn off came back to her, after that everything went blank.   
“What happened next?” She asked. He got a bit of a panicky look on his face, while his antenna started sparking a bit. “Uh, I fuh, found yuh, you inside the hideout!” He stammered out. “Then I got you into the truck with those boxes you pointed out and we got out of there!” He added quickly while pointing out the rear window. Charley took his word that the boxes were in the back of the truck. She really didn’t feel like turning her neck right now.   
She thought for a moment, the pain kind of making it difficult but she fought thru it. “Wait, how did I get back into the hideout.” She asked with a confused look. Hard Luck’s eyes grew a few sizes as she asked this. “And how did You get in there, last I saw you; you were falling into the water after hitting the monsters!?” She gasped as the memory of this flashed back to her!   
“Uh, uh, I , uh, er, uh, uh…”He stuttered trying hard to think of an answer for her. She gave him a few seconds. “JET FOOT!” He yelled out as if that explained it all. The Look Charley gave him didn’t really say she bought this, but she decided to table the issue for now. Hard Luck noticed this and ran with it!  
“Yeah, yeah right!” He said while nodding his head enthusiastically! “We gotta get these boxes to the Tower so we can help the guys, the guys they really need our help you know, the guys!” He kept massaging her shoulder. She seemed to like that.   
She turned as best she could and really looked at him this time. Her neck, shoulder and arm were killing her, but then she saw all the burns on him! She started to feel sympathy and sick at the same time! His body was covered in ugly looking burns! The green slime was stained all over him! Even large chunks of his black pants had been burned off!   
Then the smell hit her. “Oh My God Hard Luck!” She gasped. “Are you okay!” She asked concern all but pouring out of her. The truck’s cab reeked of chemicals, burnt fur and a nasty infectious smell. Some of his wounds were oozing!   
“Huh, what?” He gawked at her then looked down at himself, acting as if he first noticed his condition. “Oh, oh I am fine, this, this is nothing!” He said quickly in a clumsy attempt to convince her of this! “I mean it hurts, a lot, but, but uh, the itching stopped!’ He said with a weak smile.  
Charley suddenly stopped and got a puzzled look on her face. “Wait, what do you mean the guys are at the tower!?” She asked with a look of disbelief on her face. “When did the Tower show back up, and how do you know that is where the guys are!?”   
“Uh, uh, uh, uh, owwww!” He stammered until his antenna started sparking again stopping him with a painful twitch. “Hard Luck are you Ok!” She gasped, realizing she seems to say that a lot ever since she met the Blue Martian.   
“Uh, uh, how do you drive this thing!? He shot out, turning, and taking the wheel and gear shift in paw. “Last thing with a clutch I drove had 7 pedals not just 3!”   
Charley gave him a bemused look. “Oh, don’t think we will not be discussing this and so much later in full detail, because I promise you, we will be discussing it.   
He just nodded and let out a sad sigh. Yeah. They would be DISCUSSING it. She got as comfortable as she could as she gave him a crash course on Driving Stick 101. Dently still hanging on the back, opened fire on a group of monsters as they made slow progress down the flooded street.   
“Karbunkle get in here!” Limburger bellowed as he stepped off the VR Interface pad in his office. He looked back at the pad and at the part of the floor where there transport from the labs below always crashed up. He couldn’t wait to get back on the VR Pad. It was how he kept track of the Mice’s progress in the Trap Tower. It let him witness all their turmoil in the most wonderful of High Definition and he didn’t want to miss a second of it.  
As per a display of overly dramatic chaos, Karbunkle crashed up thru the office floor. Bits of carpet and flooring ripping like paper to part for the deranged doctor’s entrance. “Eeehh, Yes My Emmental Eminence?” He asked in his best toady voice.   
“Status Report and keep it quick!” Limburger ordered him. He was already edging his way back to the VR Pad. He was taping the events back in the Tower, but he didn’t want anything to slip by him because he wasn’t paying attention to all the details. He was so tired of losing.   
Karbunkle wiggled his spider like fingers and put on his most sinister smile. “Saturation point of the Slime Mold Infestation has reached epic proportions, and the Storm Maker is flooding the streets and keeping everything nice and moist, so our ravenous creations won’t dry out any time soon!”   
Limburger pretty much already knew this, so he just rolled his fin in a Get on With It Motion. “The City is in full panic mode and the Human Military Forces are converging on it as we speak.” He smiled with sadistic mirth. This bit of information also brought a cruel chuckle to Limburger’s fat lips.   
Yes, the thought of the Human Military, rushing into save the day. Totally unprepared and terribly ill equipped to fight the threat that faced them! Oh, the destruction wrought by the encounter should be Gloriously Delicious!   
“And the Stalkers, what of them? “He asked, his impatience mounting. The thought of him not getting too see the Mice get Devoured alive was a thought that was gnawing at him like the Psycho Plankton Itch the Mice were suffering from!  
Karbunkle looked down at a tech-pad he was holding. “Our Sensor tags indicate that all 4 of them are now located around the Trap Tower.” The Doctor informed The Big Cheese. “All security precautions are in place here I assume?” He glared questioningly at Karbunkle who returned the ugly smile with a nod of his head and a smile that would make the devil proud.   
Limburger turned and took a moment to stare out the large window of his office that faced the coast in the distance. The lights of the city reflecting off the bottom of the massive storm cloud above. The City and the Biker Mice, all too be destroyed on the same night. The office rumbled from the malevolent laughter that rocked off its walls.  
“Oh, my poor garage.” Charley moaned as Hard Luck helped her to sit down on a stool in her shop, which now has half a foot of standing water in it. Her arm now in an improvised sling she felt like she could throw up looking around her, but she fought it down. The thought of seeing that floating on the water was a big factor in stopping her.   
Hard Luck patted her on her shoulder while biting back any comments that tried to pop out of his mouth, which he pretty much thought would either get him yelled at or punched in the nose. He turned and ran outside and lowered Dently off the Tow Truck’s hook and noisily rolled him inside the garage over next to Charley.   
“You can’t do this by yourself, I have to come with you!” Charley called out as Hard Luck ran into the rear part of the garage, and she could hear him rummaging around somewhere. “You can barely stand up!” He answered back.   
She tried to argue this by doing just that, but she didn’t even get to her feet before she collapsed back onto the stool with a groan. Her left hand going to her right shoulder to hold it with a grimace. “You’re hurt too, you can’t do this alone!”  
“Yeah, I am, but I am way more used to it than you.” He said as he came running past carrying a couple of large plastic zip bags and some long boxes out to the truck parked outside. He came splashing back into the garage, looking around for more stuff.   
“I, I can still ride a, a long, and …help.” She tried to say but faltered. Her shoulder and arm really hurt. Hard Luck sloshed his way over to her and gently placed a large towel wrapped around a few big handfuls of ice onto her shoulder and then moved her other hand over to hold it.   
“That is just adorable Davidson, but yeah you ain't coming.” He said with a smile and then condescendingly patted her on the head. She half-smiled; half glared back at him. “Look I don’t disagree with you, I probably Can’t Do this by myself, but there ain't time to try and find help.” She started to try and argue with him, but he cut her off.   
“But that doesn’t mean I am going to let you Ride Along, and before you say anything, I can give you 4 Big Reasons WHY!” She leaned back. She had never seen this side of him before. He had always been, well kind of wimpy. She leaned back on the stool. She wanted to hear this. She suddenly flashbacked to her Dad doing the same thing. She found it cute and somehow saddening at the same time.   
Reason #1, I am NOT getting another Tail Chewing (he waved his bandaged tail about to get the point across) for dragging You into Another Dangerous Situation. Ok, she could buy that one. Reason #2. If I did let you Ride along and if Something Did Happen to you, THEY would never forgive me or themselves, no matter the actual reasons.”   
She had to agree with this one too. She could picture the guys, especially Vinnie’s reaction to being told this. Hard Luck leaned in and looked her directly in the eyes for this one. The look was so serious she almost forgot about the pain in her shoulder. Another Parental Flashback.  
“Reason #3, and the Most Important Reason, is that I would Never Forgive Me if anything happened to you.” She just stared at him with her mouth hanging open. The Seriousness on his face, she didn’t know how to respond to it. What he said next didn’t help any.   
“And the 4th reason is that I got too much of that grief on my shoulders now, and I can’t handle what I got, so I don’t need anymore.” That nearly knocked her off the stool. “I, I don’t know what to say,” Charley said weakly.   
“Yeah, and that is why you are both staying here.” He said and then pointed down at Dently who had been sitting quietly by Charley’s stool this whole time. Until now. “BEEEP!” He went and started angrily bouncing up and down, sending waves rolling across the shop and nearly knocking Charley off her stool.   
Hard Luck reached down and grabbed Dently by his bent handlebars to keep him from causing a disaster. And I only got 3 reasons for you!” He shouted at his irate machine while pointing a finger at him like an upset parent! She wondered why she kept getting that feeling from Hard Luck of all people.  
1, We aint got the time to find tires and parts to get you back up to speed, 2 You gotta stay here and keep those things from getting in here and eating Her, and 3 I am the Boss of you, and you are gonna do what I tell you and that is that!” He yelled at Dently in a rapid machine gun speed. This time Charley got the image of parent vs teen.   
Dently’s camera eye just stared up at him silently for a few seconds. He then made a rude noise with his exhaust pipes which was helped by the fact that they were underwater. Hard Luck just shook his head and pushed himself up and started to wade out of the garage. Charley raised her good hand and tried to think of something to say.   
“Hard Luck, wait!” She called out. He turned and looked back at her. “Yeah?” He asked looking back at her. She thought hard for a few seconds. “I just got to; I mean I need to say…” She started but faltered.   
“Yeah?” Hard Luck just repeated. “Don’t wreck my truck.” She said weakly with a smile mixed with laughter and tears. He just looked back at her as he opened the door and pulled himself into the truck. “No Promises.” He told her with the same smile on his face.   
He started the truck and grinding the gears he weaved it down the water-filled road. Charley and Dently watched him go as Thunder and Lightning ominously broke out across the sky. “Good Luck Hard Luck.” Charley said while waving her hand weakly. Dently tilted over sadly against her stool.   
From out in the city, sirens, sounds of fighting and yelling mixed with inhuman roars. Thunder and Lightning ripped across the sky again. The Power flickered leaving the view in a very eerie light. “Good Luck to us all.” Charley whispered almost like a prayer. 

To Be Continued…


	9. Biker Mice from Mars : Slime Mold Dance Ch 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slime Mold Die Hard Continues

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt. 9

The Faux Tower rumbled! It shook so violently it knocked all 3 of the Biker Mice off their feet to roll around like big furry skittles! “WHOA!” All 3 of them cried out as they bounced off the walls and each other. They came to a crash landing in one corner of an empty office. Throttle groaned as he looked up from the bottom of the Biker Pile, he found himself under. He wondered to himself how he always seemed to be on the bottom of this scenario and Modo, the Biggest and Heaviest was always on the top!?

Of course, Vinnie complained like he was the one being crushed the most. “Modo, get your heavy hide off me!” He cried out from somewhere in the middle of the tangle of limbs and tails. “Stop squirming and I will!” Modo growled out as he fought to do just that, but Vinnie was inadvertently not making it easy.

“Ahh, Modo move your metal arm, you got it rammed right into my…self!” Vinnie gasped as something extremely uncomfortable happened. Throttle let out a groan as the Mouse Mass shifted on top of him.

Modo having had enough of this wrapped his arms around his chest and simply rolled off them, like a steamroller going downhill. This caused a chorus of loud groans and yipes of pain from the middle and bottom portions of the pile! The fact that water was still pouring down from sprinklers built into the ceilings of every room only added to the whole uncomfortableness of it all.

Modo got to his big, booted feet and turned to look down at his crushed compadres. “Oh Man, I will never get these wrinkles out.” Vinnie moaned as he rolled around on top of Throttle, both hoping their spines hadn’t turned into the accordions that they now felt like. “Limburger could have splurged for some carpet at least; man, these floors are hard.” Throttle groaned as he felt like a soggy pancake.

Modo reached down and grabbed them both by the scruff of their necks and peeled them up off the wet floor. “Well, I cannot speak for everyone here, but I for one am enjoying the whole affair quite immensely!” Chuckled Limburger.

Modo dropped Throttle and Vinnie, they both let out surprised gasps as they found themselves once more falling onto each other onto the hard wet floor, Throttle on the bottom again. Modo fired almost blindly from his arm cannon!

The Holo-Drone exploded in a shower of lights and sparks! The Limburger Hologram once again blipped out of existence. Modo’s arm dropped to his side with exhaustion. Even His mighty shoulder almost couldn’t hold his metal arm up anymore.

A small, tired smile popped onto Modo’s face. Doing that felt good. Sadly, it was a fleeting feeling, for only a few seconds passed before another drone flew into the room and another smug hologram of Limburger appeared in the room again.

“How many of those Damn Things have you got!?” Modo angrily growled at his most hated enemy, his robotic eye glowing a crimson red. “Oh, Many!” Glowed an annoyingly happy Limburger. “I got them on a special Bulk Rate!” He joked. He was the only one that found it funny.  
The building rumbled again, nearly knocking the mice off their feet again. Throttle and Vinnie had only just gotten back on theirs. “What the Heck is causing that!?” wondered a weary Vinnie. His current adrenaline rush starting to wear off once more.

This made the already ugly smile on Limburger’s face grow even uglier. He had been waiting for a chance to share this vile bit of trivia! “Oh, that is the lower floors of the tower collapsing as the mold’s devoured them!” He chuckled cruelly.

A not happy expression crossed behind Throttle’s face hidden behind his glasses and helmet screen. “Oh, great.” He groaned. “And here are some More Delightful tidbits of knowledge for you to chew on!” He chuckled at his own little pun. The Mice just glared at him with hate-filled eyes.  
“The Molds being a somewhat simplistic and primitive lifeform, much like your furry selves, their breeding cycle is a matter of how much they consume, or to put it as simplistic for you my dimwitted dementors, that means the more they eat, the more they multiply!” He said to them barely being able to contain his malevolent mirth as he watched their expressions as they took this all in.  
“Also, to add to the fun, the walls of the interior of my little mouse trap have been coated in a Wonderful Cocktail of Chemicals mixed specifically to aid the process, thus meaning there are now FAR More Molds in the building than when you first entered, and they all want to SNACK ON YOU!” Limburger added no longer being able to hold in his laughter.  
“Wonderful.” Throttle groaned as he slid his back up and down against a wall trying to hopelessly scratch his infernal itch. “Look on the bright side,” Limburger said smiling.  
sinisterly. “This just means you have nowhere to go but…UP!” His sides nearly bursting with laughter as he said it. Adding to the horror of it all the familiar sound of Munching Monsters crept up the outside hallway.

The Mice not waiting for the inevitable to happen again got up and helped each other once more run out of the room. They found themselves in a large curving hallway. “This is new. “Vinnie said taking in the change of environment. Most of the tower is or was just a series of connected square rooms and some stairs.

There were elevators, but the Mice quickly learned that they were just empty shafts. They learned this after they nearly fell-down one after ripping the doors open trying to get away from the monsters.

“The Hallway is new, but that sure isn’t!” Throttle pointed out behind them. They turned and saw that coming up behind them was a literal wall of the Mold Monsters! The Creatures were crammed in leaving only a couple of feet between them and the ceiling. The Horde suddenly sensed the Mice ahead of them and increased their slimy shambling towards them! Their roaring echoing down the hallway, seeming to make it shake!

Throttle tried to think of a Battle Play but he was too tired and frustrated to be clever. “Slow them Down!’ He yelled out. Modo and Vinnie did just that. Modo opened fire on the walls, ceiling, and floor in front of the Molds! Once a small wall of debris was built up, Vinnie activated a couple of his few remaining flares and threw them onto the pile, almost instantly bursting the chemical soaked material into a wall of flame!

This stopped the Molds but only momentarily because the now burst water pipes were already dousing the fire, and the Molds at the rear of the mob blindly pushed the front half-forward still wanting to munch on the Mice!

Not wasting time, Throttle activated his Nuke Knucks Glove and punched a big hole into the curving inner wall of the hallway! The Mice jumped thru! “WHOA!” All three of them cried out as they landed on a fast-spinning floor! The floor started to pick up speed a few seconds later! The Mice suddenly found themselves skidding across the slippery surface! The speed increased until they were thrown from the floor up against the also spinning wall, pinning them to it!

“I am glad we skipped lunch!” Modo yelled out from his awkward position on the wall! They were all splayed out on it, being held in place by inertia! “OH, I hate it when all the blood flows into my antenna!” Vinnie gurgled from his upside-down stance. Throttle had been thrown face-first against the wall, was fighting to turn his head so he could try and figure out what was going on in the room.

He got his head turned only to get it slammed against the wall sideways! “Ouch!” He groaned as his helmet banged against the hard wall! His head felt like an egg being stepped on, but he could see enough to figure out what was going on. “MODO The Centrifuge in the middle of the room!” He cried out. Modo just grunted and tried to pull his cyborg arm down, but even its strength fought against the spinning inertia of the room! “You can do it, Big Guy!” Vinnie cried out supportively! “I’m trying, I’m trying!” Modo Grunted as the motors in his arm strained to lower his gun, but it just wasn’t doing it!

Throttle thought as quickly as he could, he once more twisted his Nuke Knucks Glove to where the inertia activated the glowing glove! It sends a shockwave down the spinning wall! It all shook, feeling like it could send the wall panels flying, but it gave Modo’s arm all the effort it needed! The Arm Cannon came down and he Opened Fire!

The mechanism exploded, and the spinning room crashed to a sudden halt! “WHOA!” All three of the Mice cried out once more as they were sent flying, to crash thru the other side of the round room.

The Mice slowly and painfully pulled themselves up out of the crumbled chunks of the wall. They were back in the curved hallway. The Molds could be heard crawling around the curve towards them again. “Aint this where we came in?” Vinnie mumbled groggily. “Less punning, more running.’ Modo said just as wobblily. Throttle could only moan as he put up a paw so one of his Bros could help him up.

They got up and ran as fast as they could, which wasn’t extremely fast. They were all hurt and tired and extremely sick of it all at this point. As they shambled down the hall at all almost the same speed as the monsters chasing them, they saw a stairwell going up. There were no doors in the hallway so not having much choice they started to climb!

They had barely gotten a few steps up before the stairs suddenly turned into an escalator! A Superfast Escalator! “WHOA!” The Mice cried out again as they once more found themselves being shot thru another section of the tower!

The Mice found themselves crashing into the hard concrete wall at the top of the stairs! They landed once more in a pile of rubble and dust. All was quiet until their moans and groans of pain drifted up. It was quickly drowned out by mean-spirited laughter. “OH, I am so glad I put in the Fun House Stuff!” Cackled the Limburger Hologram!

Throttle, once more on the bottom of the Mouse Heap, pulled himself out from under as best he could. He looked down the escalator and saw the Mold Horde nearing the bottom, getting ready to be carried up to them. At that moment, he snapped! A Bestial Roar ripped out from his maw, and his glove powered up to full power was sent ramming down onto the escalator!

The Escalator ripped free from the mechanism and in a shockwave, the stairs literally exploded downwards, tearing the walls and large chunks of the machinery out, cascading down towards the Molds! In a Thunderous Crashing noise, the stairwell was blocked by a massive pile of debris. The Molds could be heard behind it. Already starting to eat their way thru it. Limburger just sighed. “Well, that put a bit of a damper on the action, now doesn’t it.”  
Throttle glared up at him and just snarled, and then passed out and collapse on the floor. Modo began to raise his arm cannon again but just stopped halfway there. “Screw it, too tired. “He groaned and just reached down and picked up his out of it friend. Even Motor Mouth Vinnie, couldn’t find the energy to shoot an insult back.

They walked thru a door and kept walking until they put about a dozen doors between them and the Mold. Limburger just floated along behind them, humming some mirthless tune.  
They stopped in another room, but this time it had a window. The Mice just collapsed as soon as they stumbled in. The water still falling from the ceiling. The Mice just lay where they fell. Misery on them like a blanket. Limburger inhaled deeply. An obscene smile grew on his face, and he turned to look out the window at the City being torn apart below him. “Oh, Life is Good!” He crooned.

Outside the window, the pack of Stalkers floated up into view. The Red Leader hovered there and glared in thru the heavy rain flowing down the window at Limburger who glared back with a cruel smile. “Ah, the gangs all here.” Limburger purred. Modo and Vinnie could only glower back with equal amounts of hate in their own eyes. Throttle just lay on the floor, unconscious but still twitching due to the plankton attacking his body.

“It looks like we may have reached the end of our fun little adventure. “Limburger sighed contentedly. “The players have given it there all, but now it is time to end it.” His smile grew crueler as he looked at the mice. “Ah, but sadly for you, even after you are DEVOURED by the Savage Sucking Slime Molds, that won’t be the end for you!” The Cruelty on his face was approaching insane levels.

“For you see, even after the Molds eat you, you will live on in Horrible, HORRIBLE Pain for weeks as the Molds Slowly Digest you!” Vinnie and Modo exchanged looks. Vinnie raised a paw to one side of his helmet and started spinning one finger in circles. Modo laughed. Limburger not noticing this because he was too caught up in his homicidal rant at this point to really care.  
“The Pain you feel now will be truly insignificant when in comparison to that and I will be there to enjoy every sec….nd…..wha….on…Karzzzzzzzzzzzzttt” The Limburger Hologram suddenly started breaking up and dissolved into a storm of static noise. The Little Holo-Drone suddenly sparked then fell to the floor. Outside the window, the Stalkers drifted away until they disappeared into the heavy falling rain.

Vinnie turned to Modo and asked. “What just happened?” Modo could only shrug. The door to the room suddenly started shaking. Modo let out a terribly angry snort. He climbed painfully to his feet. “That is, it, I ain't running no more, it ends now, one way or the OTHER!” He shouted. His eye glowing like a furnace. The Big Gray Mouse was beyond reason now. Vinnie looked up at him. He was scared. He was not sure he had ever seen Modo like this! Scary yeah, but still totally cool!

The Door shook, Modo stepped up, made a fist of his mechanical hand, and pulled back to deliver a blow the moment it opened. The Door Opened, and in stepped a large something! Modo let out another rage-filled roar and his fist shot forward like a missile! It impacted with a loud, ringing metallic clang!

The figure crashed into the wall then fell to the floor with a heavy crash! Modo, practically delirious at this point pulled back his arm to hit it again until Vinnie shouted out at him. “MODO STOP, IT AIN’T A MONSTER!” He waved his hands and arms around in a frantic move to get the Big Guy’s attention!

“Huh, wha?” Modo garbled as he just managed to keep his large metal fist from acting like a sledgehammer driving the figure into the ground like a tent post. Modo looked down at the thing by his big boots. He shook his head to clear it and took a closer look. It was kind of oddly proportioned but was roughly human/mouse-shaped. It being covered in the green slime did help to confuse him.

The heavy falling water from the powerful overhead sprinklers was starting to wash it off, and they could then see the red metallic armor underneath. They both took another closer look then Vinnie got a look of recognition and appalled shock on his helmeted head. “Hey, That’s My Armor!” He shouted out! Modo looked down again, and he was right.  
It was the armor Charley made for them when they had to deal with a plot by Limburger to meltdown a nuclear reactor. It was also the armor they wore when they traveled back in time to the Days of King Arthur and Camelot! That was when they started jokingly referring to it as their Biker Knight Armor.

Modo dropped to one knee and picked up the figure and propped it up into a sitting position against the wall. He used his cyborg hand to wipe off more of the corrosive slime. He then reached up and pulled the heavily reinforced red helmet off with a pop.  
“HARD LUCK!” They both shouted out! “Uh, ow.” Hard Luck mumbled as he tried to get his slightly spinning eyes to focus. “Muh, Mo-do, whu, when did you turn into tri-triplets?” He asked then he spit out a broken tooth.

A strong look of guilt crossed Modo’s face, and he gently reached out and took a hold of Hard Luck’s head. “Oh Gosh, I am so sorry Lil Brother, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, I mean I didn’t mean to hit you at all it is just that, that Oh I am so sorry!” Modo gushed while he clumsily cradled the Blue Martians Head in his hands.

Vinnie, taking a quick look at the still unconscious and shaking Throttle, before he painfully crawled over to Modo, and Hard Luck. He picked up the red helmet off the floor. “Aw, Modo, you dented it.” He whined. Modo ignored him.

“What are you doing here Lil Brother?” Modo asked again. Hard Luck, his vision now down to double vision looked up at him. “I came to, to huh, help you, ow.” He said with a slight quiver in his voice. He ran his tongue over the new sore empty spot in his mouth. Modo continued to mother hen over him for a few seconds before Hard Luck’s head cleared enough for him to push Modo off him like only an annoyed younger sibling can.

“How can YOU Help us?” Vinnie asked him with a very sarcastic laced tone. Modo glared at him, Hard Luck just pointed at a large bundle he had been carrying wrapped in a metallic mesh net. “I brought you guys these.” He said weakly. Vinnie grabbed it and opened it up. Out fell the armor for Modo and Throttle. “You carried this up thru the Tower and the Molds?” Vinnie gasped out, his face in shock, and Modo noticed an added a very deep shade of green (aka jealousy) on it.

Hard Luck just nodded weakly. Modo patted him on the back, nearly knocking him over. “That’s my Little Brother!” He said proudly. “How did you get in the Tower? “Modo asked him. “I picked the lock, I mean it was easy, it was just a bi-fractal Posi-sync-matrix.” He said matter of fact. Modo and Vinnie just blinked dumbly and nodded.

“How did you get past the Slimes?” Vinnie asked just as much to break the silence as to wipe the ever-increasing look of being impressed and jealousy off his face. “They can’t digest Metal.” Hard Luck said and to demonstrate banged his armored gloved paw against the chest plate, it made a clanging noise. “That and it is coated in something they really don’t like.” He added. Before they could ask, he pushed himself up to stand, albeit he still wobbled a little.  
“I ain't got time to answer your questions, I need you guys to just shut up and do what I tell you.” He shouted at them. Vinnie looked like he wanted to argue but Modo just grabbed him and put his left paw over his mouth to shut him up. “Go ahead, little brother,” Modo said to him. Vinnie just aggravatedly squirmed in the headlock.

“Both of you get over there and grab Throttle and take your helmets off.” He said to them while he started to take the armor he had on-off and drop it to the floor. Modo nodded and pulled Vinnie over to the prone Throttle on the floor. They took off their helmets, and Vinnie did the job for their leader.

A slightly regretful look came over his face. “Ok, you two will probably want to sit down cause this is gonna hurt. “He said to them. A nervous glance passed between Modo and Vinnie. They sat down and picked Throttle up to sit in between them. Throttle’s head dropped down almost to his chest. A few quiet moans were his only reaction. “What are you gonna do?” Modo asked with an unsure look. Vinnie just chewed his lip.

“This.” Hard Luck said simply, and without warning a bolt of electricity shot from the tips of his metal antenna and engulfed the Trio on the floor! “AHH!” Modo and Vinnie cried out. A few seconds passed and then Throttle joined in too.

This went on for a good 10 seconds before the electricity snapped off, and Hard Luck stumbled and dropped onto all fours, his antenna slightly glowing red, and sizzling in the falling water. Modo, Vinnie, and Throttle sat there, their fur steaming and standing up on end being held up by static electricity. Their eyes slightly out of focus.

“The Itching, it's GONE!” Throttle gasped out as he regained his senses. “You are all right!” Modo laughed and put an arm around Throttle’s shoulders. “Whoa, that was... that was…Nah won’t say it. “Vinnie sighed, blowing a smoke ring out of his mouth. They all 3 climbed to their feet, Throttle leaning against the wall, finally able to catch his breath sighed with open relief. They all breathed easy for the first time in what felt like days but was just hours. The maddening painfilled itching was gone!

Modo got up and lurched over and pulled Hard Luck up to his feet, swaying slightly. He had all the armor off and Modo got a good look at him. He saw all the burns, and wounds on him. Hard Luck saw the look of horror, and concern on his brother’s face, and grabbed Modo’s paws in his, and looked up at him. “I ah, am Fine!” He said his voice wavering.

Modo gawped at him with an odd look, then simply nodded, and stepped back with a grim look on his face. Hard Luck grabbed Modo’s left paw in both of his and looked up with an imploring look. “Trust me Modo.” He said. Modo looked at his left paw, then at Hard Luck, at his paw again then back at his Little Brother. Modo looked down at him with a morose look and simply nodded.

Hard Luck reached up and gripped Modo’s big shoulder then turned and moved over to the mesh net. He took out the armor and began tossing it at the other mice. “Put this on Now!” He said. They started grabbing the parts up and started strapping them on.

“What has been going on out in the city, we really need to be filled in.” Throttle said. He was enjoying being able to actually think again. “You have to tell us what Limburger has done. “Yeah, and what about Charley, is she Ok. “Vinnie blurted out. His concerns taking first place on his clear (for him) mind.

“She is fine, for the most part.” Hard Luck said to Vinnie hesitantly. “What do you mean by…’ Vinnie started to ask, but Throttle stepped in and cut him off. “What about the City, how did you know where we were, and…” He was saying but stopped when Hard Luck threw a large object at him that he caught. Throttle looked at it. It was a big rifle-sized water gun.

“A Wacky Washer?” Vinnie asked. Of course, he would recognize it. Hard Luck tossed one to each of them. “I CAN’T tell you anything, I don’t have to, Limburger already told you where you need to go… OWWW!” He cried out as his antenna started sparking again and he fell to his knees clutching his head! Modo half into his own armor suit moved towards him. “Don’t Touch Me!” Hard Luck yelled!

Modo was halfway to him was stopped in his tracks, concern all over his face. Hard Luck got back to his feet, nearly falling overturned, and looked away from him, almost like he was ashamed. The Sound of the Slime Molds eating their way up the hallway outside hit them all at once.  
“Great here comes the Motley Mouse Munchers” Vinnie growled while lifting his water gun into a battle stance by pure battle-tested instincts. Throttle looked at him, then at the toy in his paws. “What’s in these things?” He asked. He rubbed his fingers around the water nozzle and tasted it. “Ugh, what is this stuff?!” He gasped while trying to spit out the powerful substance.

“A very nasty earth chemical.” Hard Luck said with an ominous look. Modo, Throttle, and Vinnie looked down at the weapons in their paws with trepidation. “It is called VINEGAR!” Hard Luck said. “Gnarly!” Vinnie said. Hard Luck then took the last Vinegar-filled water gun out of the net and put its strap over his shoulder.

The sound of the Molds got closer. Hard Luck reached into the net again and this time pulled out a couple of large zipper bags filled with some gray stuff. “Yeah, the Vinegar it will kill EM. “He said and sighed. He opened the bags and dumped their contents all over himself. “But, this stuff, Oh, they love this stuff.”

“What is that stuff, what are you doing?” Modo asked him, once more starting to walk over to him, but Hard Luck quickly stepped away. “Don’t Touch Me!” He yelled again. Modo once more stopped in his tracks. “That’s Mud!” Vinnie said when he recognized the stuff.

Hard Luck just nodded and kept smearing the mud onto himself. Modo watched it ooze over his burns and cuts. He couldn’t fight his brotherly concern anymore and made to step forward but, Throttle stepped up behind him and stopped him by putting a paw on his big shoulder. “I think I’ve figured it out Big Guy, let him be.” Throttle woefully replied. He was starting to regret regaining the use of his brain.

“I’ve told you and helped you all that I can, now I am gonna keep those things off your backs for as long as I can. “Hard Luck said sadly while looking at them all in turn, ending on Modo with a long look. He reached up and pulled the leather helmet with the green bandana attached off his head. He looked at it sadly and then tossed it to Modo.

“Hang on to this for me Big Brother.” Hard Luck said looking at him, he then opened the door and ran out into the hallway. “Here I am ya Big Gooey Goobers, Come Get Me!” He yelled and slammed the door behind him! “NO!” Yelled Modo! “Hey what are you doing!” Vinnie shouted out, and they both started to run towards the door!

Throttle jumped in front of them and blocked the door! “No, Stop!” He yelled at them putting as much authority in his voice he could. “Get out of the way Throttle, I gotta go help…” Modo started to say and made to push him away from the door.

Throttle held his ground. “No Big Guy, you have to let him go!” He said. “I know what this looks like, but this is something he has to do!” Modo just stared at him, it being plainly obvious it was taking all his willpower not to just stomp right over Throttle and thru the door behind him. Vinnie was right behind him looking like he was thinking the same thing.  
“Listen, Big Guy, really Listen!” Throttle hollered! Both Modo and Vinnie stopped, and Vinnie noticed it first. “The Monsters, they are going away!” He gasped. Modo listened and nodded to. “Hard Luck is keeping those things off our backs!” Throttle explained. “He is giving us time to Save the City!” Before either of his bros could question him further, he stepped past them and grabbed the rest of his armor.

“Put your stuff on and Follow Me NOW!” He ordered them. Their Freedom Fighter training took over, they both did as they were ordered and suited up. Modo looked up as he got ready to put his helmet on. The sounds of the Slime Molds were still close, but he could hear them getting further away. Their hungry roaring had increased even though it could still be heard moving away from them. The Tower shook Violently again.

Throttle stepped up to another door and kicked it off its hinges with his metal-plated boot. “Come on you two, don’t let it be in vain, we gotta job to do.” He said and ran out the opening. Vinnie right behind him. Modo took one last look at the door, he looked down at his left paw and the piece of paper hard Luck had put in it. He wrapped it up in the old leather aviator helmet and green bandana and shoved it into his pocket. With a determined look on his big gray furred face, He turned and followed them out.

To Be Continued…


	10. Biker Mice from Mars: Slime Mold Dance pt 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Final Battle Starts!

Biker Mice from Mars  
Slime Mold Song and Dance  
Hard Luck Trilogy  
Pt 10.

“Take that you slimeballs!’ Yelled Vinnie as he used his armor’s chainsaw attachment to saw a group of Slime Molds into little gooey chunks! He was able to enjoy fighting again! It felt good to be able to stand up to the sinister slimes for a change! He punched another Slime Mold in the face with his big, spiked mace gauntlet on the other paw! “Oh, this is Awesome!” Vinnie shouted joyously!

Modo, his face hidden behind his own armored helmet had to agree. It felt good to lay a Stomping on these creeps, and that was exactly what he was doing! His Big Huge Metal Clad Feet literally stomping the Slime Molds into a splattered goop all over the floor and walls!   
Throttle was in full agreement with his bros! Seeing one of the creatures go Boom was a very therapeutic feeling! He punched another Slime Mold with his armored Nuke Knuckled Fist, causing a Slime Mold to burst like an over-filled water balloon! His high-powered jackhammer attachment on his other arm did an almost good job, but it felt somehow more satisfying to use! 

Luckily, they had only run into about a dozen or so of the Monsters. All 3 of them were running on fumes! Throttle was sore from the tops of his antenna to the tip of his tail! He wanted nothing more than to just lay down and sleep for a week, at least! He could see the same bone weariness in Modo’s movements too. His normally powerful stride had a stiff lag in it. He could even tell that Vinnie; the Velocity Atrocity would not mind taking a nap. 

They ran out of the hallway, Throttle looking back over his shoulder. The Slime Molds were already pulling themselves off the floor and walls and reforming. Vinnie looked like he wanted to hang around so he could smear them all over the walls again, but Throttle grabbed his armored tail and dragged him out of the hallway.   
“Hey, what are you doing, let me go, I’m having fun!” Vinnie griped as he stumbled awkwardly backward. “We’ve got more important things to do Vincent!” Throttle snarled dragging His struggling young cohort. “You always spoil my fun!” Vinnie bickered like a petulant child. Modo just sighed and stepped up to Vinnie and helped push him thru the tower.

After a few minutes of running thru empty rooms and upstairs they shambled into yet another empty office and if their armor would allow them to physically do it, they would have collapsed onto the floor. “Oh Momma, I could kill for a root beer.” Modo Gasped falling back to lean against a wall. “Nah, no, not me, still running one, one hundred per…cent.” Vinnie wheezed leaning on a shoulder against the other wall. 

Throttle practically fell forward against the large window. Placing both palms of his paws on the glass. His head hanging down as he took deep breaths, he then strained his neck and looked up out of the window and up the Tower trying to get the best view he could. 

“Now, where were we before I got so rudely interrupted by technical difficulties?” Limburger said as his hologram popped into view in the room. The Mice just looked at him. Not making any moves. They wanted to see how long it took for him to notice. It didn’t take long. 

“Limburger’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when He saw the Metal Clad Mice staring back at him. “What, How, where, what is going on!?” He bellowed, his anger making it look like his head was going to explode! Throttle’s metal tail whipped out and grabbed the floating holo-drone out of the air! He pulled it over until the Limburger Hologram was staring right into the face of his Helmet. He pulled the helmet off and gave Limburger his best Tough Guy Smile. “Wouldn’t You like to know?” He said and crushed the drone in his tail. 

The Look on The Plutarkians face as he fizzed out of existence almost made all the suffering they had gone thru worth it. Almost. Modo and Vinnie took off their helmets as Throttle had, he then tossed his Vinegar-filled Water Rifle to Modo. “Vinnie, give Modo your Vinegar Gun and get over here and help me!” Throttle ordered him and turned around to study the window behind him. 

“Modo, get out in the hallway and keep the Molds off our backs while me and Vinnie break thru this window. “Throttle said. Modo slung one water gun over a shoulder next to his own and held out his metal hand waiting for Vinnie to give him his. Vinnie looked at Modo, and then at Throttle with a stunned look on his face.   
“Why do I gotta help you break a window, I should get to fight the monsters, let Modo blast thru it! “Vinnie whined, sounding like a bratty teenager being told he has to stay in and do homework instead of being allowed to go out and play. Modo’s eye rolled, and he grabbed Vinnie’s water rifle from him and jumped out into the hallway. He was more than willing to face down the entire Mold Horde with just water pistols then sit thru this chat. 

“Really Vincent, you are going to do this now?” Throttle sighed, turning around, and falling back against the window behind him. He was getting a headache. Vinnie always got argumentative when he was tired and wouldn’t admit it. A sure sign that He Really Does Need a Nap!

“Yeah, I wanna know why I have to, to break a window while the Mouse with the big blaster cannon gets to fight the monsters!?” Vinnie was in full teenager mode now. Throttle just sighed and went into full Big Brother Mode. It was the only way to deal with this. He was secretly glad Charley wasn’t here to see any of this. She would never let any of them forget it. 

“You are doing this Vincent because I am telling you to because I am the leader of this little group, and before you can spout some dumb reasoning of yours, you are doing this and Not Modo because the Plutarkian Glassteel is Ray Shielded so His Big Blaster Cannon Can’t Blast Thru It, and His armor doesn’t have any other type of weapons that could break thru it, unlike Your Armor that does, and now Shut your Trap, Stop Arguing with me like a cranky 12-YEAR-OLD AND HELP ME DO THIS NOW!” Throttle yelled at him, then falling back against the window to catch his breath. 

Vinnie stared back at him, with an open-faced look of mixed respect and shock on his face. “Well, why didn’t you just say so.” He said with acceptance. He slipped on his helmet and activated his saw attachment and walked over and attacked the window. Throttle just looked up at the ceiling and sighed and put on his own helmet and activated his jackhammer and leaned in next to Vinnie. The office filled with the sound of tortured metal. 

Standing out in the hallway, a smelly dripping wacky washer in each hand, Modo tried to keep his full attention on the hallway in front of him. He needed to be ready if any monsters popped around the corner, but if he were honest, he was having difficulty with it. His concern for his brothers (all 3 of them) was distracting him something fierce.   
The sound of childish bickering had stopped in the room behind him and was replaced with the sounds of high-powered Martian Machinery tearing into energy shield protected metal. Modo smiled behind his helmet’s visor. Vinnie’s eternal struggle against growing up. Of his three bro’s he was the easiest to deal with, as much as Vinnie himself would protest that view of his hard-fought-for and developed Mysterious Bad Boy Image. 

That made Modo chuckled again. Vinnie was about as mysterious as a filled-in crossword puzzle. Everything he was, was as plain on his face as the metal mask he wore. Now Throttle. He had perfected the “Mysterious Bad Boy Image” to a tee. A fact that Vinnie was (not so) secretly jealous of. Yeah, if you didn’t know Throttle very well, Modo being one of the Very Few He let in close enough to know him, Throttle was one mouse almost No One could read. 

He had met Throttle a few years before the War with the Plutarkians. Both were in the Freedom Fighters. Modo had been in a few years before Throttle had joined. They had become friends almost from the start. Heck, Modo had trained Throttle on the basics of survival training and weapons. It didn’t take long for Throttle to shine and climb the ranks. Then at the time, Colonel Stoker had saddled them with the fresh out of Cadet Core and nothing but the energy and trouble Recruit Vinnie Van Wham.   
Stoker had hoped, and guessed right, that his two best troopers could reign in the nut case and make a real Freedom Fighter out of him. Somehow, they did it. They had become the Best Unit in the Freedom Fighters, and the best of friends. 

Then the war started in earnest, and they had become something closer than friends. They became Family! Family. Modo looked down the hall. He could hear the Monsters below him. Rampaging thru the lower Tower. Could feel it shaking beneath his feet as they devoured everything around them. 

“Oh, Little Brother.” Modo moaned, doing his best to keep his big heart in check. He wanted to take off and go save his “littlest bro” so bad. He could still picture the first time his Mama had introduced him to the Scrawny, scruffy, covered in scratches and bruises, and with 2 black eyes and a bloody nosed 11-year-old mouse.   
He had known him longer than Throttle and Vinnie, and he still couldn’t figure him out really. He had known him since before he got the nickname Hard Luck. He had done his best to be a Big Brother to him. He cared for him like he was his real brother. He knew Hard Luck felt the same way, and he still hadn’t really figured the goofball out.   
He was the other side of the Vinnie Coin. Everything Vinnie tried so hard to be like, Poor Hard Luck just had it almost thrust on him whether he wanted it or not. Vinnie so wanted everyone to think of him as the Stand-Alone Tough Guy that didn’t need anyone, but in truth, Vinnie was best as a part of a Team! 

Hard Luck had never been allowed that Luxury. Always on his own and the whole world against him. Just like now. In a collapsing Tower, chased by monsters, all alone, and here he stands armed and armored, with the two best fighters in the room behind him ready to back him up in an instant. How he stopped himself from running off right now he didn’t really know. 

“THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING NOT AGAIN!” Limburger bellowed! Karbunkle wisely stayed in the corner, out of arms reach, and out of direct collateral damage zone for the occasional raged thrown object. “This is not fair!” He shouted. “After all my scheming, all my planning, this is not fair!” He spun around and glared at the shaking scientist.   
“Karbunkle activate all the Island’s defenses interior and exterior, now!” He ordered. “Activate all of the holo-drones as well, I want to see everything that is going on in the Trap Tower!” Karbunkle sneered sinisterly and started pushing buttons on his hand-held tech device. Limburger turned and once more looked out his window. 

He looked at his reflection in the glass. He adjusted his suit and tie. One must keep up proper appearances and not let one’s emotions cloud one’s judgment. He is a business fish after all. He refused to give in now. He would fight to the bitter end. No matter what! He would pay any cost to win. Any Cost. His reflection smiled back at him.   
POW! The Metallic Glass exploded out into the rainy skies! The Blast knocked Throttle and Vinnie across the room! They bounced off the wall, they both fell over with loud clangs as they bounced off each other’s armor. Vinnie laughed. It almost got his adrenaline flowing again. They both slowly got up and ran over to the hole in the window.  
“Big Guy, get in here, we gotta go!” Throttle yelled out. Modo kicked in the door and rumbled in. “Bout Time!” He growled. “What, were you not having any fun?” Vinnie joked. Modo didn’t say anything. He just bopped Vinnie on the top of his helmet. Out in the hallway, Slime Molds could already be heard eating their way towards them.  
Modo leaned out the window and fired off his shoulder-mounted rocket grapple. It soared up onto the roof of the tower, snagged on something and Modo pulled it taught. He then reached out and grabbed Vinnie by his metal collar and Throttle grabbed his metal-covered tail. ‘As the Good Guy with the S on his chest says, Up, Up and Away!” He activated his grapple and all 3 of them shot out the window and up towards the Towers Roof!

Once again, they landed in a pile on the roof. This time sounding like a bunch of metal trash cans that fell a few dozen feet. “Uh, why do I always wind up on the bottom?” Throttle moaned. “Because you are the foundation of our group.” Vinnie chuckled from the middle. “I ain't gonna complain, the tops the spot.” Modo joked. They climbed to their feet and looked around. 

“Well, we're here, now what?” Vinnie asked looking around the roof. They had been up here lots of times over the years, and no matter how many times they wrecked the dump, Limburger didn’t change the layout of the area much. It was pretty much just a roof. “There has to be something up here that can help us, I mean Hard Luck kind of made a big point about it.” Modo said while he looked around for something. “And that must be IT right over there!” Throttle shouted out and pointed at something.   
Nestled in next to a couple of large air conditioner units was a small, waist-height device that was well known to them. They ran over to it as fast as they could and looked at it. “Well, that explains how this Tower literally just appeared. “Modo said. “Yeah, and it's how it's going to go away.” Throttle said. The Transporter Link Device lights blinked softly in the rain. 

Throttle knelt next to it and looked at its control panel. “You know how to work that thing?” Modo asked. “Nope, but I am willing to fake it.” Throttle said with a sly smile. “If you two brainiacs don’t have a clue, I am willing to take a shot at it.” Vinnie tossed out. That got a big NO from his two bros. Vinnie just snorted and turned around. “Charley says I am the best when it comes to pushing buttons.” He frowned. He wondered where she was right now. 

Reading his thoughts, which wasn’t all that hard, Throttle replied. “I wish she was here to Vin-Man; she could figure out this thing really quick, I would give my tail for her to be here right now.” A green energy blast slammed into all three of them, sending them crashing into another piece of machinery on the roof.

“That sounds like a very equitable transaction to me.” The Red Leader snarled as he and his fellow stalkers drifted down out of the rainy sky. His large blaster rifle smoking. Their armor being the only reason they were still alive after that, the Mice once more got to their feet and looked up at their adversaries. “Oh, great.” Throttle moaned.   
“Ha Stalkers Versus Bikers Round Two!” Vinnie laughed. “We beat you guys once, I guess you want a second helping really bad!” The Stalker looked down at him with what looked like amusement. “I seem to recall that last time you had your motorcycles and also a Very Large Tidal Wave to defeat us, I do not see any such mechanisms at your disposal this time.” He said calmly. 

Vinnie pointed at him and started to say something then faltered as he realized he couldn’t think of a snappy comeback. Modo stepped up for him. “My Bike may not be here, but old Righty is.” He growled and opened fire with his arm cannon! The blasts seemed to go shooting off into empty air. “Dang, I forgot how fast they are.” Modo sighed.   
2 arrows shot out of the shadows and hit him in the side. Modo looked down just as green energy swarmed over his armor. “AHH!” He cried out and fell to his knees. “Modo” Both Throttle and Vinnie cried out and started to run to him. A Gray Stalker appeared behind Vinnie, who spun around and tried to deliver an uppercut punch. The Stalker very easily dodged, grabbed his fist, and pulled a move sending Vinnie flying around and over his shoulder, right into Throttle who was moving to help the prone Modo.   
Their heads connected with a loud clang! They fell on top of Modo. The Stalkers floated over to them. “Oh, this is not good.” Throttle groaned painfully. “Look on the Brightside bro,” Vinnie said slowly. “What good side?” Throttle asked. “At least you ain't on the bottom this time. “Oh, that hurt.” Modo growled.   
“This is almost disappointing.” The Red Stalker sighed. “Speak for yourself.” Growled Limburger as his hologram floated over. He looked down at the immobilized metal-clad mice. 

“If we destroy them, you will uphold your side of our, agreement?” The Red Stalker asked looking directly at Limburger.   
“As I recall our Agreement was that I got you out of prison, and then you Work for Me, I don’t recall any other stipulations, so I do not see any reason to break up such an equitable arrangement,” Limburger said with a sinister smile. All the Stalkers glared back at him. “That is what I thought you would say. “The Leader said. He gestured and two of his hunters floated forward, pulling out dual-energy blade weapons. The fourth stalker hanging back behind the rest. 

“Up and at em Bros!” Throttle called out. They both took up stances to each side of their leader. “One-Four-One-Free-For-All! 6” Vinnie and Modo smiled. They Liked this play.   
The two gray stalkers swooped in from the sides, drawing glowing blades from hidden sheaths, swinging them in spinning blurs! Vinnie took a loose martial arts stance, ready to twist and flow with the attack. Modo took a solid boxer approach. He planted his feet and raised his arms in a defensive and offensive form. ready to block, and punch.   
The Stalker Leader activated a short sword and slowly drifted down towards Throttle. He turned on his arm-mounted jackhammer and got ready. As one, all 3 Stalkers moved like shadows to attack! The Mice jumped to the challenge! Sparks flew as energy blades slashed against Martian Metal! 

Vinnie was hopping and flipping up into the air, fending off attacks with his arms, legs, and tail! Modo was like a boulder. He kept the Stalker in front of him and his arms shot out like pistons if the Stalker got too close! The Stalker Leader engaged Throttle in a full-on fencing match!   
If the Mice didn’t have on their metal suits, they would have been cut to ribbons! The Red Stalker leader feinted a move on Throttle, who just threw a direct punch with his left arm jackhammer weapon, the Leader ducked, spun, and sliced the hammer off Throttle’s arm by its steel braces, he fell forward on to his chest, the Stalker flipped his sword to deliver a downward stabbing strike! 

Vinnie and Modo saw this and were momentarily distracted by the sight, the two gray stalkers took advantage and dived towards their opponents to deliver killing blows! “NOW!” Throttle yelled out! Modo and Vinnie’s metal-encased tails grabbed each other and pulled! Vinnie went flying backward twisting around, Modo twisted at the waist, throwing his bro at the Stalker He was facing, and Modo now pointed his arm cannon at Vinnie’s Stalker and they both ATTACKED!   
Modo blasted the Stalker right into his crossed blades, blowing them out of his clawed hands and him off of his anti-gravity disc, Vinnie spun and using his chainsaw gauntlet slashed Modo’s Stalkers blades into pieces, and then punched the Stalker with his mace gauntlet, both Gray Stalkers fell to the roof floor, out of the fight!   
The Red Stalker Leader was stopped by the sight of this midway thru his downward strike, giving Throttle all the time, he needed! His Nuke Glove glowing it strikes up hitting the sword full-on, shattering it into a thousand glowing pieces! The Leader knocked off his disc, falling to the floor with a heavy thud onto the flooding roof!   
“NO!” Bellowed Limburger as he watched the Stalkers fall! The Mice jumped up and quickly pinned their opponents down! Throttle stepping up and holding the Red Leader down by placing his heavy metal boot on its chest! 

“Looks like You guys just lost.” Throttle said with a smirk looking at both the Leader and Limburger. The Plutarkian stared at him as if death rays were shooting out of his eyes.   
A beeping noise suddenly sounded from the Red Stalkers Wrist. He looked at then looked up and smiled at Throttle. “No, we both won. “It replied with a smile of its own.   
The Leader pulled a round object from behind its back with snake-like reflexes, He tossed it up over their heads! It exploded in a pyrotechnic display of blinding flashes! Electrical energy flashed all around the Mice’s metal armor! They all cried out as they got zapped, sending them falling to the floor! Limburger’s Hologram once again fizzled out as the Holo-drone exploded. The 4th Stalker that had been hovering in the background disappeared in the same way! Another small holo-drone falling to the ground.  
The Stalker nearest to Vinnie sprung up and took off its backpack and threw it across the roof! It bounced a few times before tripod legs sprung out, and it landed upright, out from its face like apertures a blue glowing field of energy formed! 

All 3 of the Stalkers flew towards the Dimensional Space Warp Portal! The two gray stalkers jumped in. The Red paused for a moment to smile back at the stunned mice, then followed his fellow hunters in. The Portal Machine blowing up seconds later!   
“What is going on!” Limburger yelled as he once again jumped off the VR Pad! “I can’t reconnect to the drones!” He hopped over towards Karbunkle totally unable to hold his anger in anymore! The Devious Doctor was stabbing away madly at his data-pad, frantically trying to figure out what was going on himself!   
Alarm Klaxons suddenly started screaming in the Tower, before Limburger could ask, Karbunkle once again checked his data-pad. “It’s the security in My Lab!” He gasped and activated the lab cameras! On the huge monitor in the office, a view of the lab came on! The 3 Stalkers stood in front of the Transporter Machine when the missing 4th stepped out from behind it! 

The 3 Gray Stalkers ran into the machine, the Red Leader turned and looked right into the camera and waved goodbye before he too jumped into the Transporter seconds before it activated and whisked them away! Limburger watched this in disgusted awe! He started to get so mad his mask began to bubble! Karbunkle wisely dived behind the desk!   
Out on the beach of Limburger Island, Greasepit and the Goons wondered who was screaming the string of Alien Profanities! 

“What the Cheese just happened?” Vinnie Blurted out, as he and his bros pulled themselves up off the waterlogged floor. “Language Vincent!” Modo chided him. “But yeah, what was that?” Throttle painfully pushed himself up. “That is our chance to get up off our tails and save the city, so let’s go bros!” He said slightly breathlessly.   
All 3 of them got up and achingly made their way once moreover to the Transporter link. “What exactly is the point of doing this again?” Vinnie asked. “I mean what goodwill getting rid of an empty tower do?” 

“It is full of Monsters if you remember.” Modo told him. “Yeah, it would put a serious dent in the local pest problem.” Throttle said as he once more leaned down by the machine and tried a few buttons. It bleeped angrily at him but didn’t do anything else. He almost punched it. Now was not the time to start using Vinnie Technical Tactics.   
“I think it’s got a code lock on it?” Throttle said as he stared at the buttons on the panel. “Did you say a code?” Modo asked as he seemed to suddenly remember something. He was interrupted as the Tower shook again, way more violently than it had before! “I am starting to get really sick of that!” Modo growled as he and the others once more pulled themselves up off the roof. 

“I am way more tired of that!” Throttle shouted and pointed to the edge of the roof! Oozing up over the edges of the roof all around them was a living wall of the Savage Sucking Slime Molds! “I really wish we had our bikes right now,” Vinnie said with a grimace. Modo ran over to the part of the roof they first climbed up on and just managed to grab the dropped Vinegar-filled Water Guns, managing to do so just seconds before the Slime Molds flowed over them.   
He ran back and tossed two of them to Vinnie. “It may not be your rocket sled but have a squirt instead!” he said with a crazy grin that even Vinnie could be proud of, he then took something out of a metal pouch on his side and handed the contents to Throttle. 

“Here, try this while we keep the Green Team off your back.” Modo said and got his squirt rifle ready for battle. Throttle looked at the thing in his paw. It was a piece of paper. He uncrumpled it. It was covered in some sloppily written Plutarkian symbols. 

“What is this?” He asked. “I dunno but Hard Luck made a big deal about it when he handed it to me,” Modo said and turned to face the approaching mob of mold. Throttle started punching buttons on the keyboard again, in what he hoped was a correct order. “Ha Ha, suck on sour-tasting death you slimeballs!” Vinnie laughed hyping himself up for the fight. Modo looked at him and smiled and joined in. “Yeah, you gooey… jerks!” He shouted. “I am going to have to work with you on your witty reportage,” Vinnie said teasing him.   
Despite his gung-ho attitude, Vinnie wasn’t wasteful or rash in an actual fight. He and Modo took careful aim and controlled their shots because it was agonizingly apparent that there was way more Mold than they had Vinegar Ammo! Vinnie jumped up onto the large machine Throttle was by and took a higher advantage to shoot from. “Slime Sniping!’ He laughed. 

The Slime Molds roared out in rage and pain as the vinegar hit them, melting them like a powerful acid, but all this did was make more room for the ever-increasing number of them to flow onto the roof, and soak up the mice’s ammo.

The link beeped and all the buttons lit up. “Yes, I think I got it!” Throttle cheered. Karbunkle’s pre-recorded voice sounded out from the machine. “Transport Link Activated.” It said. Throttle wanted to jump up and cheer. “Coordinates Inputted.” It said next. Throttle wanted to do a backflip. “Powering up sequence activated…” Oh Yeah, Throttle was one Happy Mouse! “5 Minutes to full power activation.4 minutes 56 seconds.” it then added. Throttle was no longer a happy mouse. 

“FROMAGE!” He shouted out and stood up and took one of Vinnie’s Wacky Washers from him. “We got a problem!” He shouted and shot down some approaching molds. “I heard, and before you can ask, I am already halfway to empty!” Modo shouted out trying to conserve his ammo as best he could. “Don’t get negative now Big Guy!” Vinnie tried to joke.   
Throttle looked around; the Molds were getting way too close for comfort. The Timer just hit 3 minutes. The Molds continued to ooze up over the sides of the tower-like there was no end to them. “Up next to Vinnie on the Air Con Big Guy, quick!” Throttle said and climbed up on the machine, Modo was right behind him.   
“Should we try to go over the side and climb down?” Vinnie asked. His washer is awfully close to running dry now. Modo flipped the switch on his grapple, it just sparked a few times. “No Go on the Grapple, it's fried!” Modo Cried out. “We could jump and hope our armor can take it?!” Vinnie suggested, but even He didn’t sound thrilled with it.   
“Even if our armor was in the best of shape, which it most def is NOT, I don’t think it could take a 40-story drop!” Throttle pointed out. His armor was full of dents, scratches, and rips in its metal. All their armors were near totaled. 

“1 minute and counting.” Called out the Transporter link. “Where ever this tower is going, looks like we are going with it.” Throttle said. “Well, they say travel broadens the mind.” Vinnie laughed. “This is one trip I could skip.” Modo grumbled.   
Vinnie’s wacky washer sputtered and ran dry. He tossed it at the horde, who quickly consumed it. He tried his chainsaw gauntlet. It was just as broken as everything else. Modo’s gun ran dry. Throttles lasted only a few more than also gave up. He took off his helmet and looked at his bros. They took off their helmets as well.  
‘Wherever we wind up, I can’t think of two other mice I would rather go therewith.” He said smiling and put up his fist. They all three took it and stared down at the Molds. They were already climbing up the air conditioner towards them. Howling with mindless hunger! The Mice stared back defiantly. 

The area around them erupted into explosions! They nearly fell off their perch! “Hey guys, need a lift?” Charley yelled down from above them! The guys all looked up. Hovering about 20 feet above them, riding on Dently, his side wings extended and his jets firing down. “CHARLEY!” They all cried out at once!   
“It ain't that we don’t’ appreciate it sweetheart, but I don’t think you got enough room for all of us.” Vinnie called up to her, with a wide grin on his face. “Not, with me, with them!” She cried out and pointed behind her. Their ears were greeted by the wonderfully familiar and very missed engine sounds!

Their motorcycles, with their wings extended, came flying towards them! The mice all took running leaps and jumped out and landed on their motorcycles in turn. Below them, the Transporter Link called out. “5 Seconds!”. They flew away as fast as they could! The Tower was engulfed in Glowing Energy! It Vanished in a blast of light in a second! The Lot was empty once more! 

On Limburger Island, Said Limburger was screaming at Karbunkle to get information from the Tower in Chicago! “I need to know what is going on, I need to know if those Blasted VERMIN have pulled a miracle escape again!” He yelled.   
“Oh, I think that is pretty much a safe bet at this point.” Karbunkle sighed and pointed out the window. Limburger turned and he deflated in full defeat. “Oh Bother.” He sighed.   
They turned just in time to see a flash in the sky, and then see the Big Tower Sized Missile falling out of the sky-high above them. It fell straight for the Huge Rain Making Machine on the other side of the island. It slammed into the machine with a massive impact! Everything on the island was instantly flattened!   
Everything except for the Island Tower, which was thrown off the island by the blast! It spun thru the sky before crashing into a very deep part of Lake Michigan! As the Tower slowly sunk under the waves, Fred the Mutant could be heard crying out in near ecstasy! “Wipe OUT!” 

The Sky above Chicago began to clear, the clouds breaking up and the torrential downpour of rain petered out and came to a stop. The Bright Blue Sky broke out and the Sun cheerfully beamed down. It was already Sunday! The Unnatural storm had hidden the city in a cloak of night.   
4 winged motorcycles came spinning down out of the warm sky and landed in front of the Last Chance Garage. The guys parked their cycles in their normal spots in the garage. Modo and Throttle, each taking a tireless wheel rim in their paws, carried Dently inside. Vinnie was practically carrying Charley. He was extra careful not to shake her arm which was still in a makeshift sling. 

“You have got to be more careful Sweetheart!” Vinnie chided at her. Anxiety, and concern heavy on his face and in his voice. “That’s really funny coming from you Vinnie.” Charley joked, then let out a quiet moan as her sore shoulder reminded her of its current tenderness.   
‘Well, I for one am really glad she showed up when she did, or all our tails would have wound up in the fire.” Throttle said as he strained under his end of the heavy motorcycle. “I mean Vinnie is used to that but the rest of us, not so much.” He joked. Vinnie took off his helmet and dropped it on the floor, and just stuck his tongue out at him.   
“So where is Hard Luck?” Charley asked. The Mice all just stared back at her. Not sure how or what to say. Modo nearly dropped Dently, who was being unusually quiet for him. Throttle just managed to brace himself from dropping the odd motorcycle on himself. 

“Yeah, last we saw him he was in the tower, fighting the creepy crawlers, he must have still been in it when it….” Vinnie started to say but couldn’t finish the sentence. Charley dropped her helmet to the floor this time and stared back at them. “You don’t think...?” She asked horror all over her face.   
Modo’s armor could be heard shaking as he tried valiantly to not let his emotions wash over his big frame. “Now, everybody stays calm.” Throttle said quickly. “This is Hard Luck we are talking about remembering.” Everybody looked at him. “This is the one mouse that could literally walk in behind us any second, like he has so many times before, so don’t all jump to the worst things you can think of, try not to lose hope yet!” 

They all turned and looked out the big open garage door. Hoping to see him just step around the corner. It didn’t happen. “I don’t think he is going to show up behind us this time. “Modo said slowly. His voice starting to quiver with emotion.   
“He won’t pop up behind us because he is in front of us, LOOK!” Vinnie shouted and pointed towards the rear of the garage! They all turned and looked! Sure, enough there on the old, battered couch laid Hard Luck! Once more wrapped from head to toe in bandages. 

Charley and Vinnie ran over to him! Modo took off sprinting forward, dodging past Throttle! Modo let go of Dently, who was left being held by Throttle alone! “Whoa!” gasped Throttle as he toppled over under the weight of the now squirming Dently! With a Loud Crash, they fell into a pile on the concrete floor!   
“Oh gosh!” Modo gasped and he turned back and effortlessly picked Dently up off Throttle, who lay on the floor grateful that he hadn’t taken his own armor off yet!   
The 4 of them crowded around the couch and stared down at the immobile mouse. He was asleep and breathing deeply. “Should we wake him?” Vinnie asked. “No, let him sleep, he earned it, besides, we can find out what happened later,” Charley said, her voice filled with relief. 

“Yeah, let's just be grateful we are all back and safe!” Modo said, his own voice filled with the same relief as Charley’s. Modo put Dently down who wobbled over to be as close to his friend as he could. Unconsciously, Hard Luck's bandaged tail flipped over and wrapped around the cycle. A small smile grew on his bandaged-up head.   
“Yeah, so glad we are all safe.” Moaned Throttle painfully from the concrete floor. 

To Be Concluded  
In  
The Epilogue!


End file.
